Shin Uzushio Yondaime Uzukage
by Armandhas
Summary: A new addition to 'After the war Sasuke came back to Konoha'. Small summary: After Sasuke came back, he stole everything of value from Naruto in an attempt to take his revenge on the blond that defeated him in combat. Broken, Naruto travels to his ancestral home and finds more than he expected. Sasuke had better watch out. Story contains a small Harem of TsunadexAnkoxHinata.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's**** Note:** Just a small note for all those that read this story, so I will be quick about it and then proceed to upload all of the six chapters this story contains. This story has been inspired by '**Freaks in Love**' of **Dirty**** Reid**and '**The Third Uzukage**' of **Dark-Nate18**. I decided to write this story after reading the former and wanted to use an idea that I later found out to be used in the latter. I wanted to give them credit because they were a) original and b) in my opinion better written than my stories. I do truly hope that everybody that will read this will enjoy the story. It is rather short, so it shouldn't take up to much of your time.

But I will leave that for what it is and await to hear your judgement, hopefully, through reviews and/or Personal Messages. please enjoy my latest brainfart.

Just to be sure. **Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto in any shape or form.

* * *

**Chapter 01 - Prologue**

Black and white. That was the world. No color, no sound, no smell, just a silent picture that seemed to pass by. Naruto was aimlessly wandering around town, trying to make sense of it all. He wondered if he did something terrible wrong for all of the things that happened in the last two weeks. He had to have done something. Otherwise nothing made sense. But even after six hours of randomly walking in the soundless, odorless and colorless world, he could not think of one tiny thing that was bad enough to break him like this.

He fought damn hard in the Fourth Shinobi War; he would like to think that his arrival turned the tide because he was able to locate the infiltrating White Zetsu's. And that just concerns the foot soldiers of the enemy army. He had helped seal a dozen or more revived people, saved more than a hundred and again, that was just for the front line. It wasn't even counting the big fights, with Uchiha Obito and Uchiha Madara. And they were using the seven fallen Jinchuuriki complete with perfect control of their demon, a Sharingan and the Rinnegan. But he had prevailed. True, he wasn't able to save Kakashi, but he still visited the grave today, three years after the war was over.

He fulfilled every promise he could remember, even bringing Sasuke back. The promise was honored six and a half years after he had made it, but he still did it. He had brought Sasuke back after the second most dangerous battle of his life. Of course, Sasuke alone was no comparison with the final battle of the war. Though it was emotionally. But he had brought the boy…man back to Konoha and fulfilled his promise with Sakura.

The mere thought of the pink haired girl stabbed his heart repeatedly. He had spent every second he knew the girl, trying to go on a date with her. After the war she had agreed. They had the best time. They were dating seriously for a year, nothing could go wrong; Naruto was even planning on popping the big question. It all changed in a heartbeat. It all changed two weeks ago, just before a romantic dinner, with a hand on the box containing the ring.

Naruto had brought back Sasuke six weeks before. He had been detained for his crimes, but just before Naruto and Sakura were to enter the restaurant (the most expensive and romantic Naruto could find), Sasuke walked up to them. It was surreal, what was the raven haired guy doing here? Wasn't he supposed to be in jail? Before Naruto got to ask him why he was free, Sakura let go of his hand, jumped at the Uchiha and kissed him. Not a peck on the cheek, no, Naruto could see tongue being exchanged. Apparently, Sasuke no longer wanted to destroy Konoha and was willing to re-build his clan here, in the village that his ancestors started. Conveniently leaving the Senju clan out of the equation. He had even chosen the perfect girl for it, the girl that always worshipped him, apparently. The girl didn't even look at her blond boyfriend when she squealed in delight that she was in the arms of her crush and this time he didn't push her away, but actually hugged her back.

He was heartbroken, he was angry, he was jealous, he was done. Done with her, done with his former best friend. Said 'friend' even smirked at him smugly. The 'Uchiha' name had gotten him out of prison by the civilian council. Because the precious remaining member of the founding clan of the village was too precious to lock away. The color started to drain from the world at that day.

But all was not lost, even if his love life was shot to hell, there was still the upcoming retirement of Senju Tsunade. Seeing as Naruto had grown into a fine young man, that has displayed tremendous prowess throughout the years, not to mention being THE hero that saved the world from Uchiha Madara's plan, he was the favorite for being selected as the Rokudaime Hokage. Danzo was never instated, so he was left out of history as village leader.

How wrong Naruto was.

It happened just, now, seven hours ago. The Godaime was to announce her successor and all the shinobi and many of the prominent civilians were there. Naruto was giddy with excitement; he was the favorite after all. His lifelong dream was about to be fulfilled. But when he saw the barely restrained anger on the older woman face, he started to get worried. When she gave him an apologetic look, he was extremely disappointed. But the last bit of color, sound and smell left as she announced the next leader of the village.

"I hereby announce that Uchiha Sasuke will be the Rokudaime Hokage."

Many of the shinobi were shocked at hearing this, the major clans present wore the same look as Tsunade herself; barely concealed anger. But it didn't matter how they looked, it seemed that the civilian council had their way again and choose the precious Uchiha as next Hokage, ignoring the fact that he was a traitor to the village, had killed several shinobi and was responsible of more than one of the near-death experiences Naruto had; the hero of the village.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the villagers, who were finally showing him some respect and kindness for the efforts in the war and defeating Pain when he saved the village were forgotten. He had banged up the now-Hokage. He had injured him severely; he was a monster after all. He had not just lost his girl and his dream; he had once again lost his place in the society he had nearly died for a hundred times.

Sakura walked up with Sasuke, clinging to his arm and the Sharingan wielder gave him another smug smirk when he accepted the position. He would be instated next week, to let the current Hokage finish her running projects and give him time to settle in.

The shinobi who were going to shout in protest had whipped to the side when they heard a single person clapping, and many of them hung their head in pain when they saw Naruto clapping. His face was pale and devoid of emotion, but his eyes had said it all. Tears flowed freely across his cheeks without sobbing or sniffling and the spark of life that inspired so many was gone. The boy they had come to adore and admire had now left and left in its place an empty shell of who he used to be.

The memories kept on repeating themselves in his head, and his steps were sluggish. Even after eight hours, he was still a wreck, even more so then when he left the ceremony.

X

The Konoha 11, minus Sakura and Naruto had been frantically searching for the blond, Mitarashi Anko and Senju Tsunade had joined the search. The group of twelve had looked high and low, but even though he wasn't at any of his usual spots, they couldn't find him. When one Hyuuga Hinata finally did, she sent a signal to the rest of the group.

Naruto walked on ahead, with no real destination or purpose in mind, but he soon found twelve people in front of him. He saw their mouths moving, but couldn't hear the words. He saw Tsunade and Hinata stepping closer to him, but he couldn't see the usual bluish or blond color of their hair. He simple moved his head to his side in confusion, before asking in a monotone voice what they were saying and what was wrong.

Tsunade and Hinata cried when they saw the lifeless boy. It was just too much. Tsunade tried to explain that she had tried, really tried to name him, but the civilian council wouldn't allow him to be the next Hokage. That the civilians outvoted the shinobi on the matter. Neji, Hinata, Chouji, Shikamaru, Kiba, Ino, they all confirmed it, they had been told by their family, who all had seats on the shinobi part of the council.

Naruto told them that it didn't matter. And with a flash of yellow he found himself at his house. He went to sleep. Maybe if he woke up in the morning, he would find out it was all a dream and none of it all happened. He would wake up with Sakura in his arms; they would walk up to the ceremony where he would be named Hokage.

X

His life never did go as he wanted, for when he woke up the next day, he was still depressed. He still felt betrayed and he was getting angrier by the second. He got up for a shower, but everything went on automatic, he barely registered the scorching hot water that pelted against his skin. He barely registered the rough towel that he used to dry of the last remnants of water. He was out of his house and walked towards the graveyard. Maybe spending some time with his parents or his perverted teacher or even the Sandaime would break him out of this spell.

It did, but only a little bit. It only angered him more in the end, when he looked at the names of the people who sacrificed their life to protect Konoha. He felt as if the village betrayed the engraved names, by selecting a traitor for the metaphorical throne. He kept on staring at each name. Tears fell when he thought about his fallen family. His real parents, his godfather and his grandfather; the last two never actually were related by blood, but their role in his life was nothing less.

It was a strange thought, when he out of nowhere saw that in a way they all had something to do with Fuinjutsu. All of them were a master, three of them died using the most powerful on. He decided that it might not be a bad thing to learn some on his own, to honor them all at the same time.

A long walk to the library later, he entered the new building. He was already used to the glares that he was getting, so he simply walked by the front desk and looked up a book about the Art of Sealing. It turned out there weren't that many of them, but he did finally find one. It told of the basics and how symbols worked. And what the possibilities were. There were basically no limits. The people that were considered masters of the art never got the change to experiment a lot due to circumstances and a lack of time. He chuckled at the thought; with his Kage Bunshin he could easily counter that.

Someone walked by him, bumping into him on purpose and knocked the book of the table. Naruto simply ignored the prick of a man and picked up his book but stopped half way when he read one of the passages on the open page.

The members of the Uzumaki clan were THE sealing experts of the world. Their prowess was feared by all except the Senju clan who they were related to. They had their own hidden village on a small island not that far from the country of Wave. Sadly, they were so feared that several villages banded together to wipe them out. Fortunately more than one of the villagers escaped, his mother being one; that much he knew. He wanted to see the place he decided then.

X

It took him less time than his trip to the library to reach the Hokage's office. Tsunade was surprised to see him, but was glad all the same. When she confirmed he was at home asleep yesterday, only then did she allow herself the time to nearly drink herself to death. She had just woken up, trying to wrap up her own projects as perfectly as possible, while creating the most difficult of projects for her successor. Naruto was a pleasant distraction.

She was shocked at his question. He wanted a sabbatical. She was sad to say that he couldn't get one, because he already had one when he left with Jiraiya on a three year training trip. When he explained why he wanted it, and that he really needed the one year to come to terms with all that was happening in the village she really had to think on what she could do to let him do what he wanted. Luckily she didn't have to think long. Naruto had the solution.

"Then give me the title of Sage. That way I can come and go as I please."

Tsunade was surprised at the suggestion. She wasn't sure if it was possible. On the other hand, why shouldn't it be? She became a Sennin when she studied under the Elder of the Snails. Jiraiya became a Sennin when studying under the Elder of the Toads. The same was true for Orochimaru, who studied with the Snakes. That was just after the three of them were titled Sannin. Naruto had studied among the Toads and he was at the very least a battle Sage; he has been undefeated for the past six years. Even under impossible odds. And it could be her final gift to him as Hokage.

She agreed. Naruto would be a Sennin.

She asked the young man in front of her when he was planning to go and if he was going to return. The blond replied that he was definitely coming back, because he still had some friends here. He didn't know what he might do after that, but he would definitely return after his trip. Tsunade was sad to see him go, but she understood. His girl stolen, his dreams crushed and even his deeds were ignored. He was betrayed by the very village he trusted. IF he would leave the village, so would she, she had nothing besides the blond here anyway. But she would wait here for his return, so he would get a warm welcome from at least one person in this village.

X

Hinata was just as sad as Tsunade, though she wasn't aware yet that Naruto was planning to leave for a year. But for her crush to be broken like this, she felt her own heart shatter. And it wasn't only Naruto that was affected by this new development; her father was livid as well. The Hyuuga clan was one closest to nobility and they valued honor and propriety as much as they valued strength. For a deserter of the village, who had to be dragged back to the village, to be chosen as the next leader of the village all because of his family's name went too far even for the tight knitted clan of Doujutsu wielders.

Her team mates, Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba, whose parent were both on the shinobi part of the council, had reported their father/mother having the same reaction. Hinata was trying to come up with methods of cheering up her crush, but couldn't think of anything.

She was surprised when out of nowhere, the subject of her thoughts stood in front of her. She started blushing and mumbling, but the apathetic look on Naruto's face stopped her in her tracks. She asked him how he was holding up, if she could do anything for him. He slowly shook his head, even that simple gesture, performed as slowly as that by the usually energetic young man felt like a stab to her heart.

He started talking and she listened to his every word. She wanted to cry when he said that he was going to be traveling for a bit, to search for his history. But she understood, everybody needed time to come to terms with life changing events. She asked if he would come back and felt relief flood her when he nodded in acquiescence. Her relief soon turned into confusion when he apologized. She made known that she didn't know why he did that, but what she thought he had forgotten…he never had.

He apologized for never giving her a reply for her confession during the Pein invasion. She started to feel more nervous than she had ever been, but his next words made her feel grateful.

"I have been selfish. At that time, there really wasn't any time for me to properly think about whom I loved and who I would want to be with. Sakura tried to deceive me then by confessing to me as well. But when everything was over, I still had feelings for Sakura. Even though I always thought about you, I thought it would be unfair to give a reply while I wasn't sure about my feelings. I still am not sure about what I feel towards you, and if you have moved on I don't blame you, but if not, could you give me a bit more time to discover myself before I answer to you."

She knew that if she was any other girl with any other boy as her crush, she would have gotten over him within the first year. But this was no longer a crush, she loved this blond man. With everything she had. She was the last of the Konoha 'Rookies' that was still single. She didn't mind. Neji was engaged with his former teammate Tenten. Shikamaru found the average woman he always wanted in a woman from the Decryption Department named Chiho. Shino was married to a girl from a rival clan, in the hopes of merging their clans. Chouji, Kiba, Ino and Rock Lee had all found their lovers, partners or fiancé(e)'s. She was the last one with Naruto, even though his break up was not expected.

She could wait a bit longer.

He smiled then. Not a fake smile like he used to when he was a boy or an emotionless smile like she had expected from him in this state, but a true smile. True, it was small, but it was real and her little heart fluttered at the sight. Yes, she could definitely wait a bit longer for him, but only because it was him. She hoped he would be safe until he got back. But most of all, she hoped that he could find something to get him past this.

X

Mitarashi Anko had been planning the assassination ever since she heard the news of the little traitor's major and undeserved promotion. Even if the kid wasn't a traitor, he was officially still a Gennin. The one she thought that did deserve this, she saw breaking apart. She wished she could do more to help him, but she also knew that he would be the first suspect if the Hokage-to-be was killed before or even after he was inaugurated.

Anko was about to leave though the gate for a mission when she saw her hero walking with the Sennin outfit he wore during the Pein invasion; a crimson red long overcoat with black trimmings. He had only two large scrolls on his back and he seemed to set out.

She called his name and watched as lifeless eyes turned back to look at her. She flinched when she saw it. Anko could still remember the day he saved her from Sasuke's former subordinates. She never remembered them taking her after Kabuto managed to knock her out, but when she came too she was being carried by a big guy. She had no concrete idea of what was planned for her, but she was too drained of chakra and stamina to be able to talk, let alone move. There was a glint in their eyes which shook her body with fear. If it wasn't for Naruto accidently stumbling upon them in his search for Zetsu's base, who knew how she would've end up?

She asked him where he was going and he briefly explained that he found out about his clan and their home. He was going to try and find out more about himself in the hopes to overcome this, his, tragedy. She could understand to a certain extent. She was an orphan from birth, never knowing who her parents were. She would like to think that she might find comfort in finding out about her heritage. She was curious if he was coming back, even if he wasn't her savior, he was a cool guy to hang around with. He had grown up tremendously from the brat she once nicked with her knife during the Chuunin exam.

Would she leave the village if he did leave? She did owe him her life. It was only normal to serve someone until that debt was repaid.

"Naruto, if you ever need anything, anything at all and it is within my power, all you need to do is ask and I will do everything I can do to help you." The smile she got in return warmed her in more ways than she wanted to admit.

She watched as the young man set out towards the horizon. His broad shoulders on his tall muscular frame. He was so much like his father, it was almost scary. Even the way his smile affected the ladies. She wouldn't mind a rump with him once. It would be a good way to repay the debt. Once the blond hero was no longer visible, she took off for her own mission. She would have to wait and see what will happen in the future. But she meant what she said. Al he had to do is ask.

X

It took one week to arrive at Uzushiogakure. The traveling itself was easy, within four days Naruto was at the Land of Waves, boarding a ship towards his ancestral home. The other three days were spent trying to find a way past the Whirlpools protecting the island. When the blond did finally arrive, he was dead beat. He wanted to look around as much as possible, but he knew he had plenty of time. He would set up camp for now and go to sleep. Tomorrow he would try and dig up some of his past in these ruins.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 02 – Treasury of Knowledge**

After three weeks and several hundred Kage Bunshin, Naruto had pretty much seen every nook and cranny except for one section of the village. Where he was depressed before, he felt amazement now. The ruins of this now-destroyed village were magnificent. He simply had no other word for it. The pieces that were the most intact showed how large the buildings were. Naruto was used to buildings not being overly high, so they wouldn't stick out above the trees. But these buildings were all gigantic in comparison. He wondered if it had to do with the location of the village.

The Land of Whirlpools was a mere fraction of the size of the Land of Fire, but there was nothing else on this abandoned isle. He had been to Suna and Kumo, he even had a sneak peak at the building style of Iwa, but those villages had to hide their village in the country they were at. So buildings in Suna were extremely low to the ground. Buildings in Kumo were built IN the mountains of their village and Iwa even made their houses as if they were stalagmites. This village was on an island that was hidden on its own. No sailor could see it because they would stay clear of the well known whirlpools of this island and even if they wanted to come here because they knew of this village, they couldn't because of the very same reason. The whirlpools blocked the path.

The first week had been the toughest. In every collapsed building he found old personal items. They ranged from stuffed teddy bears to music boxes with family heirlooms and antique paintings to family crests. The people had to leave in a hurry when they left. It was sad really, seeing how much destruction a war could cause. He realized it as soon as he found the first few skeletons. It weren't the fully grown ones that freaked him out; he had seen plenty of death in the last war, it were the underdeveloped ones; the skeletons of children, that got to him the most. He was glad that after searching through 80% of the fallen village, he had only seen a dozen, but every one of them was one too many. He remembered breaking down when he saw the bones covered in a little pink dress, still holding a doll. It was too hard. He had collected all of the remains he had found and buried them on the cliff overlooking the sea, facing south-east, so the spirits of the deceased would not look upon another land, but the wide expanse of the ocean.

Today he would start on looking through the center point of the village. It was a collection of three buildings, two of which seemed to be a compound. He decided to save it for last, so he could use it as a focus point. He was pretty sure that he could find the most of his family in one of those building. He already had a pretty good idea to what they were.

The middle of the three ruins was most likely the main office for the ninja forces. From what he could see, it would probably have been three to four stories high and was round in design. The way all the main paths in the village led to it, it couldn't be anything else but some kind of administration office. There was only one major administration that a ninja village needed. The office of the village leader, the mission bureau and civil service. Since Uzushiogakure was inspired by Konoha, it wasn't a long shot to expect some of the lay-out to be similar.

The Uzumaki clan was the main clan in this village. They were the founders and they were the strongest, it was recorded in every bit of wisdom he had found so far. Diaries, journals and the few history books that remained. He briefly wondered why there so little books around. He hadn't even found something that would have resembled a library. In any case, seeing as the Uzumaki clan was as prominent as the Hyuuga or Uchiha in Konoha, it wasn't that strange to believe they had a compound of their own. He had no idea which of the two it would be, or to which clan the other one would belong to, but he would find out eventually.

X

The last part of the town, the part where the most answers should've been took the longest amount of time to look through. The buildings weren't high, but they were large enough. What seemed to cause the most problems was the amount of devastation that occurred here. Besides a few of the outside walls, everything was razed to the ground. There was not a single piece of furniture undamaged, no a picture unscathed, everything was destroyed. Naruto was depressed when he went through the last inch of the last compound. Not a single piece of his mother had been found, not a picture, a mention in a diary or some other kind of book. If he didn't know better, it would seem like the Uzumaki clan never existed here. But that was probably the intent behind the attack that destroyed this village. Wipe out the Uzumaki bloodline.

He went to sit at a dry fountain in the middle of the mansion he was at. He was wondering where he would go now. He could go and visit with Killer Bee in Kumo, or Chojuro in Kiri, maybe Akatsuchi in Iwa. He decided to make a tour through the Elemental Countries. Starting in Kiri, then to Kumo, proceeding to Iwa and ending it in Suna to see Gaara before heading back to Konoha. He still had 11 months before he promised Tsunade and Hinata to be back.

Naruto leaned back, thinking about the Hyuuga heiress, he moved his hands behind him to support him, but he didn't notice the jagged edges of the stone sculpture he was sitting on. He pulled his hand back as soon as he felt his hand being cut and sucked on the wound to clean it. He was swearing under his breath when he looked at the offending spot. What he saw was one thing he would remember until the end of time. His blood started to move on its own.

It moved towards the center of the fountain and spread out; forming some kind of seal. Naruto moved away from the stone decoration; he thought he triggered some kind of defense mechanism. To his surprise, the broken piece of stone started glowing brighter and brighter, till Naruto had to cover his eyes. He tried to sneak a peek through his fingers, but the light was painful to his orbs. He could vaguely see the stone shifting and reshaping until it looked like a doorway; a doorway that led to a spiraling staircase. Curiosity might have killed the cat, but Naruto would be a fool if he hadn't explored a mystery like this.

Who didn't like a good adventure?

The blond kept on going down the stairs until, after wait seemed like an hour, he stepped onto a solid floor. There was no source of light, but luckily Naruto had brought a torch with him, he wasn't stupid enough to travel underground without a source of light with him. Age had brought him a bit of wisdom; even if he didn't show it that often. He quickly lit the piece of lumber and looked around.

Naruto found himself in a circular room with several places for torches on the walls. There was one passage way directly in front of him and nothing else in the room. He sent a Kage Bunshin back upstairs to try and find as much pieces of wood that could function as a torch. He would need lots of light around here if he was going to look around. It took two days to look around the compound he just finished, who knew how long this secret cavern would take? As he and his clone split up, Naruto slowly walked towards the corridor. He immediately saw the Uzumaki symbol on either side of the path and more places for torches. He kept on walking, the path was straight so he didn't have to worry about getting lost, until he saw two doors. He moved his hand over a small metal plate next to the door on his right, trying to wipe away the thick layer of dust that had settled and found the word '**History'** written on it.

He blinked once and then some more and grabbed the doorknob to open it. He felt a pinprick in the palm of his hand. He looked at it and found a small smudge of blood on it. He turned toward the doorknob again and saw it glowing, before opening itself. He came upon a room that was filled with bookcases. Each of them easily stood six meters high and all of them were filled to the brim with books and scrolls. He walked towards one of the bookcases and found another metal plaque on it. He wiped it away once more and found it saying '**Land of Water'**. He turned towards the book case once more and grabbed the first book within reach. Browsing through the bundle of paper, he came to the conclusion that it was all about a researcher under command of the Shodaime Mizukage. He just put it back in its place.

At some point his clone came back and started placing torches on the designated area. Naruto felt his eyes bulge as he saw the amount of books here. He was wondering if all of this was really just history. So leaving another clone here to see if he could find anything about his clan, and the first one fetching some more torches, he made his way to the next door, directly across the hallway. He removed some more dust from a plaque and read the label.

'**Geography'**. It sounded boring, but who knew what kind of interesting things one might find. He never expected himself to read through history books either, so why not Geography too. Besides how much could there be about the land? He was right. This room was much smaller than the previous one, but still held an impressive amount of reading material. Wanting to cut this a little shorter than with history, he grabbed the first book and read the title. '**Iron**'. Yeah, this was going to be boring.

He walked back to the hallway and looked what else could be found. He came from the left, so he turned right. He came to the next set of doors and cleaned both of the plaques before looking at the labels. One read '**Bujutsu**' and the other one said'**Taijutsu**'. He was surprised to see the two forms of martial arts here so he eagerly opened the first door to unarmed combat. He was already getting used to the familiar pinprick every time he opened a door.

The new room was just like the previous ones and held a bucket load of books. He briefly wondered through it, but he had a suspicion that he wanted confirmed. He would explore every room, just to see how large the spaces were, if there were any other doors within the rooms. So after that he walked to the '**Bujutsu**' room. Like before there were several cases. But the difference was that every book case had a weapon hanging over it. He walked towards the closest one, not wanting to spend so much time on it and grabbed out a book from the cases that had a Bo-staff hanging above it. Like he suspected, there was a style illustrated and explained on it. Now he really wanted to see if his suspicions were correct. The next set of doors proved it. '**Genjutsu**' and '**Ninjutsu**'. He hit the jackpot.

He skipped the door of the Art of Illusion. He had always favored **Ninjutsu **over everything, even ramen. This room was laid out exactly like the others, bookcase after book case. It resembled the '**Bujutsu**' room somewhat, seeing as every book case held a symbol of some sort above it. He had to reach to see what it was, but it turned out that they were symbols of Elements. He really had found the jackpot.

He had to refrain himself from jumping into the scrolls and books. Instead deciding to explore a bit more. Now that his assumptions were correct, there should be one more room. By this time he had several clones walking around, lighting torches in every room or searching for interesting information. Once he was done exploring, he would make a ton of copies to look at all the **Ninjutsu** scrolls and literature.

Naruto continued the path down the hall until he came to one last door. The hallway didn't branch or anything, this was the last stop; the door that contained the art of his ancestors: **Fuinjutsu**. He made his way inside and he was shocked to see that this room was easily twice the size of the **Ninjutsu** room. He led his hand glide over the various scrolls and books and tried to catch a glimpse of some of the titles. He let his eyes rest on a title, he didn't know why; the title just seemed to scream out to look at him.

"'**Fuinjutsu: Restricting the physique 3'**?" Naruto wondered out loud. He opened it carefully; he didn't want to damage his family's treasures and browsed to the pages. His eye caught something again; he could almost swear it was the Kyuubi that was making him look at it. He looked through the chapter. And smiled the most evil smile one would ever see on him.

His clones had finished placing the light sources everywhere and he could see the vast expanse of knowledge everywhere. He turned around once, twice, three times but still kept on turning around. He laughed for the first time in the last couple of months. He had found his ancestral home and though he wasn't able to find anything more about his mother, he had found the means to try to make his own clan, his own village and a maybe even a way to take the ultimate form of revenge. All he would have to do is study. It was something that he hated to do. And hate was putting it mildly, but he was no longer a foolish boy; he was a grown man that understood the responsibilities of being a leader. He could not just become a leader of people if all he could do was use brute strength to fight. He could not start a clan without it being any different than a normal family. No, he would need knowledge, patience and the determination to do things that he didn't like to do.

Naruto dispelled his clones and closed his eyes for a moment to let the dizziness die down. He made his way outside and created fifty clones. He would build a house here, on top and around this entrance so he could sleep and eat. It wouldn't do if the entrance closed and he was stuck inside without knowing how to get out; he knew the way in. And it really wouldn't do for him to ruin or burn something if he ate or was in any way careless with his fountain of knowledge. He needed to check on one more thing.

"Kuruma, you awake?"

"**What is it, Naruto?"**

"I'm going to test something, but I'm probably gonna pass out. Could you keep track on how long I am out?"

"**What are you up to?"**

"Revenge on the Uchiha."

"**Then I will help however I can."**

Now all that was left was to use his treasure.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 03 – Alliances**

Six months after Naruto had found his treasure, Tazuna and his grandson Inari, were sitting on their porch, looking at building plans. Business had been great after the war to rebuilding several places. But after that, not so much. The only reason that they were looking over schematics now, was to give Inari a better understanding of different types of construction work. Tazuna was getting old. He still builds of course, but he was now more of a contractor than an actual worker. That was where Inari came in. It was always better for a leader to have knowledge and experience he gained from working to the top.

A cough interrupted their sitting and they looked up to see a sharp looking young man standing in front of him. Tazuna adjusted his glasses to get a better look at the visitor. He was a very tall man, easily reaching five feet eleven inches. He was wearing dark-red geta underneath a black kimono. The only thing special concerning the cloth were the two golden embroidered Kanji of 'wisdom' on the left and 'strength' on the right. Over the black kimono was a long white haori with black waves on the bottom. It was only when he saw the face that recognition began. The man had long blond hair to the middle of the back with two spiky bangs framing his face, two deep blue azure eyes above an amused smile in the middle of six whisker marks.

"Naruto-kun?", "Naruto-nii?" Two voices rang out.

The group drank some tea which Tsunami brought and so the four started talking about old times, adventures and new dreams. Inari shared his dream of wanting to become the most famous architect ever known and Tazuna shared that he wanted one more, big project before retiring completely. All three men were amused when Tsunami blushed and said she would like to meet someone nice again, now that Inari was all grown up. Her blush turned darker when she looked at Naruto, much to annoyance of Inari and amusement of Tazuna. Naruto just gave her a kind smile, not knowing the best reaction to give.

It was after the conversation died down that Naruto gave a new topic. One that would fulfill two dreams in one go. He wanted Inari and Tazuna to build a village. Inari would get to design most of it, with directions and of course the wishes of Naruto and Tazuna would get to build a ninja village. Not just **re**build like Konoha, but build it from scratch. Naruto said he wanted to build it on his ancestor's ruins.

"To forget one's ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without a root." Naruto nodded.

Naruto left the family to go to his next destination. He had given three things for Inari to consider for his plans; the center of the city, his own compound and a harbor. That is, if the family decided to accept the project. Naruto was sure they would, he could see a fire in their eyes being lit during his proposal. He said he would be back in two months for an answer. If he was correct, they would start planning right away.

X

X

The Fifth Mizukage was having a small rampage because of yet another friend of her getting married. She only halted when Chojuro came in with a tall blond man. She recognized him immediately, who didn't? The two greeted each other and had a short talk about the happenings of the world and the well-being of Kiri. The Mizukage was not just known for her prowess in battle and her ethereal beauty, but she was quite a sharp woman as well. She saw that there was something her guest came here to do and without beating around the bush, she asked him about it.

"Did you know that Uchiha Sasuke has become the Rokudaime Hokage?"

That sentence was all it took for Kiri to break their alliance with the Village Hidden in the Leaf. She would probably never be able to understand why a village would instate a traitor that has fought to doom the world as the leader of the most prestigious of ninja villages. She had not forgotten her own fight with the Uchiha before the war started at the Kage Summit. But she still didn't know why the boy was here. Was he here to ask for help to commit a coup?

Her second question was answered straightforward. He came here to see if she would come to Konoha's aid if there would ever be an attack against them. She had said that as long as the corruption was so deep in the ranks of Konoha, she would not be able to trust them. And those you do not trust, you do not support; especially not in their line of work. His request halted her thoughts for a moment. He asked permission to rebuild Uzushio. She didn't understand at first, she was not yet born when the Land of Whirlpools was destroyed. So with a brief explanation he said he would leave her to her thoughts, that he would have a bite to eat. He would come back in four hours to see if she had made up her mind.

True to his word, Naruto returned four hours later, with a happy smile and a toothpick between his teeth. He looked at her expectantly, but made no sound in question. He just waited, waited to see if she had any questions, waited to see if she had any remarks and waited to see if she had an answer. She had all three. There weren't many questions or remarks, but based on his replies, she would have an answer.

What would they plan to do for work, seeing as Whirlpool was uninhabited, she asked for possibilities for war, she noted about dangers of building a new village and she noted about the dangers of a clan. Terumi Mei was a bit insulted when she heard her guest laughing after she was finished with her barrage of questions and pointers. But after he gave a short, almost too short, answer to any points she raised, she settled down. She had one final question, before giving her approval: what would the blond do to Konoha? His answer was annoying.

"That's a secret."

She gave her approval. This young man was not the brash boy she saw during the war, his answers were satisfying; so why not? The blond showed his foxy grin and he disappeared leaving a tiny vortex behind as soon as he got his answer. Even while he already left she could hear his words 'See ya soon'.

X

X

Killer B, the Jinchuuriki of the Eight Tailed Demon was just finished with his newest concert tour. The tour took him to 2 whole restaurants that wouldn't mind him showing his Enka Rap to the customers. To say he was a bit disappointed would be an understatement. But he would continue to try and show the world what his musical art was all about. He rapped the last part of his lyrics and waited for any sort of applause to burst out, if there was any. He didn't expect any, but one can always hope. It was for that reason that he and, without him noticing, the rest of the audience were looking for the source of the enthused applause that sounded from somewhere in the back.

The Jinchuuriki of the Eight-tailed Oxtopus, Gyuki, strained his eyes and almost removed his glasses when he saw a familiar figure. He recognized the blond hair and blue eyes, but the black kimono with golden kanji, the white haori with black waves and the dark red geta made him doubt about the identity. The clapper of hands didn't have the normally accompanying Headband protector that should be there.

When his nickname of Old Man Octopus rang out, all doubt was gone. The two brother's-in-arms let their fists meet in a sign of amity and their way to silently communicate between Demon Containers. The people watched in amazement as the tall bulky men and the taller lithe man went from expression to expression without saying a word. There was only one other man that had seen the two communicating like this and he was currently in Konoha.

The two fists returned to the side of their owners and both left; one with a vortex in his wake and the other with a bolt of lightning. The two individuals stood in front of the door to the Raikage's office, as Mabui started at the sudden arrivals. Naruto wondered how many more women would blush at the sight of him, but shrugged it off when she moved in front of them. He did look a little bit though when there seemed to be an accentuated sway in her hips and a slightly lower than normal bow to show them in. He was a warm-blooded male after all.

The two men waited for only a minute so that A could finish up with his trusty weights. The Yondaime Raikage wasn't getting any younger, but he looked as ready to pulverize everything in his path as he did four years ago; when Naruto met the bulking dark-skinned man. The leader of Kumo did his loud greeting and Naruto decided that for this conversation he would something a bit more along the lines of discreet.

Naruto took a seat in one of the chairs in front of A's desk. And waited till the older man was finished rambling. Naruto was never on real friendly terms with A. Sure he respected him, but they wouldn't share a cup of tea anytime soon. No, he had B for that. He warned the man in advance that he would erect a sound barrier and A only lifted an eyebrow before B assured his brother that it was for the best.

The two brothers had an altercation just when Naruto was moving out into the battlefield and the two single letter named men came to a strong understanding and an even bigger mutual respect for one another; so if B said all was okay, than it probably was. The blond demon container weaved several hand-signs before a black translucent dome encircled them. Darui and Mabui came storming onto the room when the loud noises stopped coming from within the Raikage office, but they lowered their arms slightly when they saw who was within. When A gave them a sign that everything was in order and that he could handle it, the two Kumo nin left.

B was certain that Naruto planned the barrier in advance because of his brother's temper, when said brother nearly exploded in anger. One could say with a fair amount of certainty that A was not pleased with Uchiha Sasuke as the next Hokage. A had lost an arm and almost his brother to the boy. Not to mention the hundreds of troops and the world almost when the raven haired boy fought alongside Uchiha Madara. He wanted to plan an attack to get his hands on the little fucker right away. But he forgot about the barrier when he started yelling for Darui and Mabui to 'get there asses here on the double'. B paid the price for laughing at his big brother when he got knocked on the head.

When the Raikage finally cooled down a bit, Naruto made his move. His answer if Kumo would come to Konoha's aid if they would be attacked was easy to see by the older man's act, so all he had to do know was ask two little questions. Would he allow the blond to resurrect Uzushio and would he allow Naruto to deal with the Uchiha? He gave A as much time as he had Terumi Mei to think about everything and said he would be back in four hours to hear his reply. He had of course no idea that his actions of the next four hours would create an unbreakable bond with Kumo forever.

As soon as he lowered the barrier and left the Raikage's office, he ran into Mabui and Darui, who were having a short conversation. They were talking about the Benihisago, where two of their comrades were still trapped in. Naruto had unlocked many secrets with his relentless studies and he knew of the two weapons. He walked up to the duo and asked them to show it; that he might know something to help. He was met with skeptical looks, but he knew what the looks on their faces meant.

"We've tried everything else, so why not?"

The newly formed trio made their way to a secluded hall to a secluded room with one lone guard standing in front of the door. The Kumo nin bowed to his superiors and walked up to Naruto to thank him. The man was apparently someone he had directly saved by landing on an infiltrator ready to kill the guard. The Kumo nin opened the door to let them in and Darui showed Naruto the items they held that once belonged to the Sage of the Six Paths. Naruto walked by each item and let his hand gently stroke every item they had. He saw the Bashosen, the Kohaku no Yohei, the Shichieseiken and the Benihisago. The item he was to look at.

Darui was looking with critical eye at every move the blond made. These were treasures of Kumo after all and no matter how legendary their guest was and no matter how much he had done during the war, he was, is and never will be a shinobi of their village. Darui downright refused to leave when Naruto requested it of him; he would definitely not leave this room without taking the blond with him. Naruto gave him an ultimatum, some privacy or his friends. It took Mabui to drag the eye covering man out. Neither of the two had any idea what was going on inside and they had to fight their urge to take a peek. They started when the door opened and Naruto let them back in.

Their eyes went wide as they took a look at several skeletons, the Kokinjo and more importantly, Samui and Atsui. The two siblings were out cold and were rushed to the hospital as quickly as possible. Darui took a hold of the Kokinjo, which was worn by Kinkaku during the war and was supposed to be inside the Kohaku no Yohei. Darui almost demanded to know why Naruto knew how to handle the famed tools of the mythical Sage, but an infuriating grin was his reply.

"Can you show me show me where the best ramen is found?"

When the appointed time after four hours came, A was sitting with the most expensive bottle of sake in town and some equally expensive bowl of ramen. The blonde's love for the delicacy was as famed as his strength, so when the Raikage found out that the young man had freed two of his best Jounin and one of the most treasured items of their village; there were only a few options to choose from to repay the debt. He granted Naruto the possibility to start a new village on his ancestral ground and he was allowed to handle Sasuke, while A watched. He did want to know two things. What would he do to Sasuke and how did he operate the 'Tools'? He said the answer to the latter was a secret.

Naruto left Kumo to go to the final person to see before heading home, leaving the Raikage and his brother rolling on the floor laughing after having the first question answered.

X

X

There was no village in the world that welcomed the blond Jinchuuriki as the Village Hidden in the Sand. The people adored him there, the children worshipped him there and the elders respected him there. The reason was simple; he had saved their village three times. He saved them from Orochimaru's deception during the Sand/Sound invasion, he had given them the most capable, honest and hard working Kazekage since their Founding Father and he had saved that Kazekage from the clutches of death itself. In other words, he could do pretty much everything and they would still kiss the ground on which he walked. He doesn't want that of course, but that was just their sentiment put in mere words.

The Kazekage sat with his siblings in his office waiting for his best friend to come in. He had known the blond was coming as soon as the young man stepped into the desert. Gaara's control of Sand was godlike and told him everything he wanted to know by just touching it. He let a nearly imperceptible smile settle on his face as he watched how the people treated Naruto. If he knew how, he would've laughed out loud at the blonde's reaction to the attention. As a fellow demon wielder, he knew how lonely the life could be and how ones village could treat their kind, he was happy to say that his village wasn't like that anymore.

When the last Uzumaki entered the office he greeted his friends and was getting tired as Temari gave him a seductive smile. He figured it must be because he looked like his father, who was rumored to be even more sought after then Uchiha Sasuke was when the raven haired was still an Academy Student. Their chitchat lasted a good few hours. The four were close to each other, so they shared practically everything. After being invited to Kankuro's upcoming wedding, Naruto went down to business. Like the other Kages he had visited, he asked for Gaara's permission and maybe some help in building a new Uzushio.

Gaara didn't need four hours to think about it and agreed on the spot. Since the sound/sand invasion the relationship was stronger than ever between Suna and Konoha. Suna was therefore informed right away of the succession of Senju Tsunade. It took the redhead five minutes to compose a reply message, cancelling the alliance between the two villages. As Terumi Mei had said, with a traitor as leader, how can one trust the people?

With their business out of the way, Naruto didn't leave right away; he was pretty close to Konoha so he could spend the night here. With his new found speed he would reach the gates of his hometown within a day. So the four had dinner, Naruto met Kankuro's fiancée, which was amusing since she was a shinobi as well; though she was used to people of high standing, her brother-in-law being the Kazekage, she was still a little star-struck by Naruto's presence.

After a fun meal, a hot bath and a nice comfortable sleep, Naruto said that he would return in time for the wedding and left, leaving behind a vortex in his former spot.

X

X

Kamizuki Izumo and Hagane Kotetsu were playing a relaxing game of Wicked Grace. They had almost nothing to do that day with little to no traffic to deal with. They were seated in such a way that they would see if someone show up on the horizon. That is exactly why they threw their playing cards all over their little outpost in surprise when there was suddenly a blond stranger next to them. He came out of nowhere. It took the two a bit to get over their little scare; they probably neared a heart attack with that little joke.

They used those few minutes however to identify their visitor. Uzumaki Naruto was home again. They took in his new attire and gave approving nods at his stylish new look. It was one hell of an improvement to make from the hideous orange he had before. Since the blond was no longer a Gennin or whatever, he had permission to leave and enter the village as he wished; the small perks of being a Sennin. They watched in puzzlement as Naruto created a shadow clone as soon as he said goodbye and disappeared.

X

The Naruto clone went to Naruto's apartment and was glad to see that it was left untouched. The clone went inside and took in the mess that was his living arrangement. He discarded it for now and went straight towards his bedroom. He cleaned it up a bit, throwing away old clothes and other junk. One would wonder why he moved the bed to the side, but it was all part of his plan. Directly underneath his bed's old location he placed two seals a certain distance away from each other. After he had placed the seals, he put the piece of furniture back. The clone thought about cleaning up the house for a brief second but then dispelled himself.

X

The real Naruto was looking for Hyuuga Hinata. The talks with the Kages were a piece of cake compared to the conversations he was about to have with a few people in his hometown. He found the girl alone in a park, which was just perfect. She saw him as soon as he came in sight and started to nervously fumble with her fingers and could barely look at the boy. She really didn't want him to see her blush or her train wreck of nerves. He greeted the girl kindly, but warily and the pupilless girl feared for the worst.

He made a bit of small talk, but found out after a few sentences that she was way too tense for an actual conversation and truth be told, he was just stalling. He took a deep breath and turned towards her; his face completely serious. Hinata broke out of her mumbling and fumbling state to do the same. She had to see this through, no matter how much this might hurt her.

"Thank you, Hinata-chan, for waiting all this time for me." The girl just flicked her dark blue hair behind her ear and gave him a small smile.

"I have something to tell you, but before I start, I will tell you this in advance. It is the most selfish request you will ever hear and it may hurt you to hear me say what I'm going to say. Do you still want to hear it?"

Hinata took a few very deep breaths, her mind running a mile a minute with every breath through all possible scenarios. She came to the conclusion that in the very worst case, he would say that she was too weak and unworthy of him. It would break her probably, but it would also be necessary for her to be able to move on. So she nodded. She needed to hear his answer.

What she heard pretty much rocked her world and she wasn't sure if it was in a good way or a bad way. He had admitted that he had strong feelings for her too, but that there was a complication; her bloodline. She found it almost funny when he first said it, but would wait until he finished talking to ask why that was a problem. It was a good thing she waited. Apparently he had awakened his own bloodline, a bloodline thought to be lost to the world and one that nobody would ever expect at the place that it reappeared. The reason it was almost extinct was that the wielder had to meet the requirements for the bloodline to awaken. It required the perfect body, the perfect spirit and a vast amount of knowledge. He was the first to acquire it the way it was intended since the bloodline was recorded.

The problem was that if her own bloodline was to be thrown into the mix, the chances of their offspring having it would be zero, since EVERY child of a Hyuuga got a Byakugan, without exception. It would mean that the bloodline from the Uzumaki clan would die with him and that was what he wanted to prevent. He therefore came with the idea to have more than one wife. This is where things got rocky. He asked her if she could share him. She passed out when he said it. Naruto just waited until she woke up.

When she did, he continued his talk with her. He wanted to start the Namikaze clan with her. His bloodline combined with hers would probably create something new. Since his father was clanless, they could start one with that name. He would like another wife that was without clan or bloodline to resurrect the Uzumaki clan and he could then pass on his own bloodline. She could understand it, but she really wasn't sure if she liked the idea of sharing the blond. But she would let him finish.

Naruto also informed her of his plans to recreate the village of Uzushio. That needed a bit of explaining since Uzushio was practically erased from history. She had to say that she was interested in it; more because how passionate Naruto talked about it than the actual history part of the story. He ended his story by saying that he had a plan in the making, but that he would only let her in on it if she agreed with him. He made sure she understood it wasn't personal, but for her safety, so she wouldn't be held accountable for anything that might happen in the future.

The blond Jinchuuriki understood completely that she wanted some time to think about it. It was quite the request he had asked of her. He didn't say anything else besides that he would like hear a reply within a week, so he could plan accordingly. He gave her a hug, before he left in a small vortex. Hinata remained slightly dazed, trying to process all the information she had just received. Was she really willing to do this? Abandon her village to join Naruto and actually share him with another woman? Or women? He mentioned one, but what about his 'plan'? She had heard about the Clan Restoration Act, and it stated that a surviving clan member can have up to three to four wives to restore his clan. Since Naruto wanted to make two clans, does that mean she had to share the boy she had been in love with for over a decade with FIVE other women?

She fainted again. But she had a week to gain her answer. At least he was honest and told her beforehand. He gave her time to think about it. And she would use every minute of it.

X

Uchiha Sasuke was not a happy man. He wanted to start the restoration of his clan. According to Konoha rules he could have three wives, but his clan rules stated he may only have one. He was unsure if he even wanted three women around him nagging all the time. Sakura was enough as it is. He liked her yes; she had good hips, so she would have easier labors. Or that was what the urban myth said anyway. Other than that, he couldn't care less about her. It was just frustrating that he had to wait so long for the wedding; he wanted to 'get started with it' right away. But traditions were of the essence; he would not discard propriety to have children. He just had to wait for a few more weeks than he would be married. If only it wasn't a taboo to have sex before marriage.

He left his train of thought when he heard knocking at the door. He gave permission to enter and felt a satisfied smirk settle on his face as 'the dope' came in. His smirk left and changed to a questioning look when the blond former team mate looked at him with a neutral expression. He thought he would see more sadness or anger after stealing his dream of becoming Hokage and his girl, but he saw nothing. It angered him somewhat, to see Naruto deal with it all so casually. But that was personal and this was probably business orientated.

"Hello Sasuke, it's been a while." The Uchiha just nodded in agreement. It really had been a while.

"I just wanted this to be done face to face and get this over with." Sasuke looked confused at the calm demeanor of Naruto.

"I hereby break any relationship we ever had. You are nothing more to me than the Rokudaime Hokage." Sasuke would never have expected this, but he had to admit that it took guts to do this.

The two former friends stood up and shook hands for the last time. Sasuke could feel a sting on his hand and looked a bit angry at Naruto, who just chuckled and apologized. 'This was the only way he would ever been able to take revenge, by putting more than the needed amount of strength in his handshake'. The two parted and as soon as the blond left, he turned on his Sharingan to see if he placed some kind of Genjutsu or Juinjutsu on him. Finding nothing, he shrugged it off; believing that it was nothing more than a handshake with too much power.

As soon as Naruto left the Hokage Tower, his grin never left his face. He had several more stops to make, but he had finished his two most important ones. He would take a break for now and headed for Ichiraku ramen, he had missed their ramen in the eight months he had been gone. And he wanted to ask them something.

X

Naruto had been visiting his old friends during the week and had caught up with all of them. He had been introduced to fiancées and girlfriends, fiancés and boyfriends. The blond was surprised by some of the choices. The loudmouthed Kiba had found a pretty dominant girl, who almost literally had him on a leash. He had unfortunately missed Shino's wedding, but was pleased to meet his wife; who was as quiet as the bug user. Apparently it was a bug user thing; since she used them as well. It was no surprise that Neji ended up with Tenten; she always was smitten with the Hyuuga prodigy. Rock Lee had found a nice civilian girl. And that was just a few of them.

All of Konoha 11, minus Sakura; who was not as welcome as before thanks to the whole dumping-Naruto-in-the-way-she-did fiasco, had gathered once for a dinning party at a restaurant. It was both amusing and disturbing to see Chouji's girlfriend out-eat him, but he seemed to love his girl even more for it. Chiho kept on trying to feed Shikamaru, which suited him perfectly since he didn't have to perform the troublesome task of picking up his utensils. All in all, everything was fun.

But the week had passed and Naruto went to the park where he found Hinata a week prior. He was nervous to say the least. But that was to be expected. She was about to give verdict to a selfish request, that he never thought would ask of anybody. He sat down and thought about the shy girl until she came into view. He gave her a gentle smile and she blushed and gave him the same. They sat down and remained quiet for quite some time. Naruto didn't dare to breach the silence, he would await her decision. Half an hour later, Hinata finally breached the silence.

"There will have to be certain rules."

Naruto was elated at the news, but would wait till their talk was finished before he would jump in joy. Hinata had to muster all her courage and willpower to look Naruto in the eye when she said what she would accept and wouldn't allow. Of course, several things had to be negotiated, but she had made her conditions clear. Naruto gave his first girl a kiss on the cheek and hugged her to him. Now he could proceed with his next step of his plan. He asked her to set up a meeting with her father three days to date and that they would meet two days from now, he would head to the next phase of his plans. He would tell her all about his vision in two days and that it couldn't be done out here in the open.

Hinata gave Naruto a quick peck on the whisker marks and tried to remain steady enough to go to her father. Naruto made his way to the next person he had to see.

X

Senju Tsunade was a little bit disappointed that Naruto had not visited her yet. They had briefly met on the street while he was with his friends, so they hadn't been able to talk for long. But he promised he would come see her as soon as he had finished something extremely important. Something he had to take care of before he would have something of equal importance to discuss with her.

Three days later, eight days after his return to the village, she welcomed him into her home. She had inherited the mansion of her grandfather, but it was simply too big for her. She had sold it to a richer civilian before she left the village many years ago and bought a small two story home so she would have something she could call her own. Of course she lost the rest of the money with gambling and alcohol, but she at least had this.

Naruto stepped into the home and was greeted by Shizune and Tsunade. The latter was more than a little bit surprised when he greeted her with just her name. No 'baa-cha' or whatever infuriating nickname he ever gave her. She was slightly worried about it. Naruto had requested they stay sober for a bit and though reluctant, Tsunade agreed. So with just some tea and a few rice crackers, the three talked about the past eight months. The female blond noted that Naruto seemed amused at the fact that the shinobi weren't all that motivated anymore because a traitor was the leader of their village, but all three of them had expected it to a certain degree. They also knew nobody would ever do anything about it, they needed work and nobody needed a civil war.

At some point Naruto asked if he and Tsunade could have a private talk. It was in good timing because Shizune's shift started soon in the hospital. Naruto hugged the raven haired lady goodbye and as soon as she left turned all serious towards the last Senju.

"I'm going to ask you to let me finish talking before you hit me. I will show you something and propose something else. You might become angry and even a bit scared, but I would like to say my part and then you can react however you want."

Tsunade really wanted a drink right about now; the tone in her fellow blonde's voice made her worry quite a bit. She watched as Naruto weaved several handseals and she found herself in a translucent black dome with seals on its surface. She watched in amazement at the creation and turned to Naruto in wonder. What the hell did he learn in his ancestral home while he was away? She braced herself for his 'demonstration' and 'proposal'.

Naruto had to get the scary part out of the way first so he closed his eyes and went into Tailed-Beast Mode which surprised Tsunade for a moment, but she had seen it in the battle against Madara so she knew what to expect. The major surprise however, was when he re-opened his eyes. The Senju heir slightly backed away in horror as she saw the orbs. Naruto de-activated his Tailed-Beast Mode, but his eyes never changed. She gasped in horror.

"Those eyes…they are…"

"Yes they are. Which leads me to the proposal I mentioned."

Naruto deactivated his eyes so that Tsunade would calm down a little and he could finish their talk. He knew what was going to happen next and he already send chakra to protect his head in advance. It would probably not be enough, but it would at least soften the blow.

"I wish to rebuild the Senju clan with you."

He was glad he reinforced his skin. The blow would have broken any other man. He let her rant a bit about how the Super pervert had contaminated him before he died. And that she would make sure to beat it out of him. He didn't move, flinch or say anything until she was finished. Now that he said what he wanted he pulled out an expensive bottle of sake he had bought in the Country of Rice. She had been sober when she heard his proposal, now she could have a drink. And drink she did. He had to stop her from drinking too much. He wasn't finished just yet. When she gulped down a few big swigs she returned to listening to the young man in front of her. She was curious as hell to what he was going to say. So she kept the bottle in her hand, prepared for the rest of this 'talk'.

She didn't drink a drop afterwards. He had raised some interesting points. The Senju clan was indeed going to die with her. She had always wanted children, but when Dan died, so had her lust for life. By the time she realized it, her chances of having children had died when her menopause began. She had regretted it, but accepted it in the end. But Naruto was giving her another chance. It was an awkward chance in every meaning of the word awkward, but did the benefits outweigh it? His whole plan of Uzushio was amusing enough, but she really didn't care. She had already made up her mind to leave the village if Naruto would. Shizune had not really built something for herself here; she was just not interested at the moment, but unlike Tsunade, Shizune was in her mid-thirties so she had time to find someone. So Shizune would most likely join her.

Naruto left her to her thoughts and told her to come to his apartment tomorrow if she was interested in hearing the rest. He had everything figured out he said. She was glad he left the bottle.

X

At a peaceful Dango Shop, one Mitarashi Anko almost choked on her treat. She was looking at the reincarnation of the Fourth Hokage. The wet-dream of every woman that wasn't homosexual. And probably even them. She wondered how the hell somebody could change so much in less than a year, but in the end she really didn't care at all. The boy was standing before her and she was letting her eyes feast. Naruto was starting to get the hang of all the attention he was getting from the opposite sex so he would just give her a moment before he would say anything.

It took him longer than expected but after a few minutes he bought twenty skewers of Dango and asked the purple haired woman to accompany him. Following the snack, she almost wiggled her imaginary tail at the thought of twenty FREE dango sticks. The duo made their way to training ground 44; Anko's favorite place in the village. Nobody ever came here of their own free will besides her. After getting the third skewer, she remembered to be suspicious about the isolated location, but soon forgot to think more about it when Naruto waved the fourth stick with sweets in her face.

The blond Jinchuuriki waited patiently for Anko to finish the treats he bought her. He knew that it was a cheap trick to lure her away like that, but here he had privacy and somewhere the woman before him felt comfortable. The last little ball of sticky goodness disappeared down her throat when she licked her lips to wipe away the last bits of sauce from her face. The interrogation specialist turned towards her companion and waited for him to talk. After all those years in her line of work, she easily knew when something big was up. She was a bit irked when Naruto asked for her kunai and shuriken, but complied anyway. She had more than enough ways to hurt him without a blade in her hand. She regretted giving them away though when he started talking.

"I would like to rebuild a clan with you."

She went to smack him as hard as she could for being a pervert. But refrained when he just sat still with his eyes opened even when he knew what was coming. His face remained serious the whole time and she had the suspicion that there was more to it than just baby-making. So she lowered her hand and waited for the man to continue his story or talk or whatever you may want to call it. When he finished talking, she was glad she was sitting on a really thick branch; she would have fallen off otherwise.

He had explained stuff about a bloodline and some master plan, she picked it all up sure, but the one thing she picked out is that he chose her because of who she was. Not what she was, but WHO she was. She guessed she could have drawn a worse fate, but as it stood she had yet to find something that would satisfy her both physically and mentally. Most men just thought her a quick fuck. The ones that wanted a serious commitment were mostly freaks. The people that didn't shun her for her former association with Orochimaru either fell in one of those two categories or were simply not interested. She wasn't getting any younger. Besides that it would be interesting. How many people witnessed the rise of a village? And how many of those would stand of the top of it? She was interested for sure. That Naruto looked devastatingly handsome, like his father, and was her (real life) savior, were a huge bonus. But he was still asking a lot from her.

Naruto left just like he did with Tsunade. He told her to come to him tomorrow if she agreed. Then he would reveal more of his plan. This was a lot to process, even if he bribed her with dango.

X

The very next day Naruto said at his now cleaned kitchen table, drinking some tea, waiting for Hinata and hoping that his other two potential partners would show up. If not, he would have to think of something else. Hinata showed up for and she joined him for tea. They had a nice slow conversation about the weather and some silly new gossip in town. It wasn't before long that Anko showed up. The two girls were a bit uncomfortable around each other, but Naruto had a way of getting people to do what he wanted, even if he never noticed it. It was his biggest asset; influencing people without realizing it.

Things became really awkward when Tsunade came in. Naruto simply smiled at the ladies and let the three women talk to each other. The conversation they had was short. The Senju was one of the Legendary Sannin, a Sennin, the granddaughter of the Founding Father and the previous Hokage, besides that, she was three times as old as Hinata and twice as old as Anko. Suffice to say, there was a bit of tension between the different generations. Naruto had explained the most to Hinata, but only mentioned other women to Anko and Tsunade, so the two older women were highly surprised when they saw each other. But like before, Naruto eased the tension quite easily.

He asked the ladies if they were sure about it, that it was not too late to change their mind. But the chances they were offered were worth it. Naruto took them to his bedroom, which led to two knuckle cracking women and one blushing girl, but that faded when he moved away his bed and revealed the two seals he placed there when he came back. He placed Hinata in the middle of the seal on the left and told her not to move and take three steps to the left when he was finished. Anko and Tsunade blinked several times when they saw Hinata disappear in a black and white blur. Naruto motioned for Anko to came over and did the exact same thing and after that with Tsunade. He then stepped on it himself.

The three new arrivals to the ruins were watching in amazement as they looked around at the fallen village. Naruto arrived there immediately after Tsunade and waited quietly to let them have a moment. When they turned back to him he asked them to follow him. The ladies did as he asked and entered after him into the only building standing. Building was a bit of an exaggeration, it was a cabin with a bed a fireplace and...a fountain. They wanted to ask him why he had a fountain in here, but they looked worried when he grabbed a kunai from within his sleeve and cut into his palm. The three women watched in amazement as the blond man placed his hand inside the fountain and the thing lit up like a bonfire. They shielded their eyes, not unlike Naruto had done, but they didn't witness the shifting of the stone, they just looked surprised to see an entry after the light faded.

Naruto led the woman down the stairs and with a flick of his fingers, torches started to light the circular room they were in. They would have looked around but there was nothing to see here besides two rounding walls leading to either the stairs they just used or a 9 feet wide hallway, so they silently followed Naruto to the hallway to what he wanted to show them. He walked up to the first door and showed them the first library. Tsunade gasped, Hinata looked amazed and Anko was bored; it were just a bunch of books. Naruto smiled softly, he had just shown the tip of the iceberg.

X

Even though Anko did not react at the History or Geography section, she sure as hell did react when she saw the Ninjutsu and the other four libraries. All three of the women browsed around, looking for something or just grabbing a random book and perusing through it. They all had the same question. What the hell is this place? Naruto had just the answer for them. It took him quite some time as well to figure out. Why would one clan have all of the known jutsu recorded and ways to learn them? Why would one clan have records of every country and every figure of importance since the word 'recording' was invented? He really didn't know the why, but he knew the result. A clan that was feared so much it took two whole countries to take them out. Ten years ago he would never have believed he would ever say this, but Knowledge is Power. This…archive might be a good word for it…taught people the benefits, weaknesses and so many other things that could be exploited. All these tomes were what made Uzushio feared.

After the ladies had a chance to explore, he took them all back to his apartment in Konoha, this time with the seal on the right. He waited a bit to see if there were any questions they might have, not seeing any questions arise, he began telling about his plan; the plan that would cover his revenge, the rebuilding of his own village and clan and a coup d'état. Anko and Tsunade were a bit startled by the mention of it. A coup d´état was a capital offense when discovered. She figured that this was the reason that pretty much every conversation they had with Naruto, including this one, was held in a privacy barrier. Still though, a coup was not something to think lightly about. They would listen closely for now and beat some sense into him if the plan wasn't good enough.

So he listed all the things that he had set in motion; the rebuilding of Uzushio, the meetings with all of the Kages, except for the Tsuchikage since he hadn't had the time for that yet. He mentioned what he was planning to do now that all three of them agreed to become his wife. Naruto felt a bit like his late-teachers at that. Both of them were perverts for concerning themselves with erotic novels all the time and here he was, the student that always mocked them for it, planning to marry three women. But he digressed. He told them how important it was for the Senju clan to rebuild. He told them what he wanted to do with the Hyuuga clan and why he would go to them first. He made sure to assure both women about his feelings for them. He didn't want them to think they were just a baby production unit to him. He, honest to everything he cared for, loved them. He really did. He noticed that Tsunade had lowered her hand again and Hinata gave him a small shy smile again. Safe…

X

The evening had been a long one, filled with questions and answers. The women making certain rules about what they were comfortable with and what they absolutely wouldn't allow. Most of the latter was pointed at him instead of each other. He just smiled and accepted pretty much every condition they had.

The next morning was…interesting. Hinata had told the blond that her father would expect excellent manners and would hold a tea ceremony, as he did with every meeting of importance. So both Hinata and Tsunade had spent the early morning drilling the blond Jinchuuriki in propriety and what was expected of him during a tea ceremony. Naruto, never having seen such a ceremony before, had no idea there was so much to know when drinking tea, he only started drinking it a year or two ago. He just listened and watched as his two women instructed him.

The time had come to face the Hyuuga Patriarch. He had seen the man once or twice and fought beside him briefly during the war. He had heard the Hyuuga talk with his deceased younger brother and it was because of that, that Naruto would probably have an ace up his sleeve. But it wouldn't do to just throw it on the table right from the start, so he would proceed slowly.

The couple made their way to the main gate of the Hyuuga compound and knocked. They would not just go in because Hinata was the heiress, but they would do everything by the book. Knocking the door is a trivial thing, but it would give time to the other party to be alerted in advance instead of just showing up in front of them. The door was opened by a stoic Hyuuga servant, who ushered them inside right away. The older man led the duo to an open room with a clear view of the garden. Naruto took just the briefest of moments when he saw the small piece of landscape, which he is why he would have to include his own rock garden with koi pond into his own compound. It just emitted a sense of serenity.

Naruto and Hinata were asked to take a seat on the side of a kettle; Naruto closer to the open door than Hinata. They didn't have to wait long before Hyuuga Hiashi stepped in. The three exchanged greetings and as soon as they did, Hiashi had asked for a girl to come inside. The girl had nothing really noticeable. She was pretty enough with a fancy looking kimono. Actually, the only thing worthy to mention about the girl was the kimono. It was a soft pink color with a dark pink obi and on the left side was a Cherry Blossom tree that scattered its petals across the wind.

The tea ceremony went smoothly, he really appreciated the little training session he had with Hinata and Tsunade, without it he would never have known he had to accept with a specific hand and had to turn the bowl in his hand a fixed amount of times before drinking it and reversing the steps before returning it. Hiashi seemed to respect it though and that was the goal of it. With the girl leaving and taking her tools with her, the two Hyuugas and one Uzumaki were left alone. They shifted their position, so Hiashi would face the garden outside and Naruto would face him with Hinata beside him but slightly behind.

"Before we start, I would like to erect a barrier to provide protection against unwanted attention. I do not wish for this conversation to reach outside you and me. Is that agreeable, Hiashi-dono?"

The question caught the man off guard, but he blinked once and agreed with the odd condition. He had his ceremony, so the boy could have his precaution. The two men first talked about the current condition of Konoha. It seemed a bit peculiar at first, but Hiashi knew that the boy was aware of his council position and thought that he wanted to appeal to remove Sasuke from his title. If that was so, the boy would be disappointed, though Hiashi himself was not at all satisfied with the current leader of his village, loyalty was a key value to the Hyuuga clan. Naruto never once spoke a word of hate or revenge or anything that would or could even in the slightest be considered a threat to the village, but just stated facts, like the morale of the shinobi decreasing because of the former missin nin status of their Hokage, not to mention the near deaths he had caused before and during the war. But again, never once was said anything directly that could be considered treason. Taking a brief opportunity of the privacy he rarely had, he agreed as he had witnessed the swing in mood of his own family members that were enlisted.

As soon as the sentence left his mouth, Naruto went down into business mode. The Hyuuga noticed it and went on alert, he would not get caught off guard because the conversation was interesting and he found someone intelligent, that didn't fear his family's name, to talk to.

"I would like to ask your daughters hand in marriage." In the end he was caught off guard after all.

Silence was the only thing that could be said about the next ten minutes. Neither Naruto nor Hinata nor Hiashi shifted under the sudden rising tension. The clan leader let the request mull over. As a clanleader he had to ensure the strength of the clan, but that was easily brushed aside as his daughter couldn't find any stronger suitor than the hero that saved the world and won against two of the strongest Uchiha that ever walked the earth. In all the Elemental countries people had written songs in his honor; who could possibly exceed that? Though…he was without clan.

As a father though, things were a little bit different. He knew the boy and obviously he knew about his talent. He was a bit worried about his…spontaneous and sometimes downright reckless behavior. Though the boy might be strong, it said nothing over his heart. He knew the boy made it his way of life to always keep a promise, but would it be enough to ensure his daughters happiness? He briefly glanced at his daughter. She had a mild blush and a small sincere smile while she kept stealing glances at the boy. She was honestly head over heels for him and the boy so far had proven his sincerity in not flinching away.

"Hinata, do you wish to be wed to this man?" He thought about it some more when his daughter nodded, her eyes determined. He had never seen her look at him like that before; as if she would do it with or without him.

"As a father I do not think I will be able to find a better match for my daughter, but as clan leader, I cannot think of a way that someone that doesn't have clan to be approved of by the elders."

Naruto smirked when he heard that. Hiashi was instantly on guard. He somehow didn't like that look in the young blonde's face. The older man watched as Naruto went through several handseals and the barrier around hem went from a translucent black to pitch black in a second. He looked suspicious at his guest and waited for him to clarify.

"The next part of our conversation must not be allowed to be heard or seen by anyone other than us. I allowed the wielders of the Byakugan to see what might be said, as I am sure that there are more than enough people here that can read lips. This barrier cannot be pierced by anything, not even the All Seeing White Eye of the Hyuuga."

Hiashi shot forward and brought his hand filled with chakra near Naruto's heart. With one simple nudge forward, he would end the possible threat.

"Depending on what you say, I will end you right here." There was that smirk in the blond again.

"I came here to ask the father of Hinata for his blessing. If he approved I wanted to give him an offer. If you are interested in hearing it, I would like to continue."

"And what is this offer you speak of?"

"The chance to fulfill not only your ambition, but also Hinata's dream and your brother's last wish."

"What do you know of that?" This was most disturbing, for someone to know of his goal.

"If you will please, I will explain why I know of it and how I can help with it."

Hiashi remained on alert, but took a seat once more. Only this time he was closer to the young man than before. He listened to his guest as he told him about his overhearing of the conversation between Hiashi and his younger brother Hizashi. He was told about a talk Naruto had with Neji, in which Neji told the blond that Hiashi regretted the tradition of the Caged Bird Seal. And he admitted that he had a plan to deal with it, but that he might not like it.

"I will tell you of my proposal and let you think about it. You can accept it or you can try to stop it. That is a choice I leave up to you." Naruto was completely serious and Hiashi was oddly interested in what he was about to hear.

"My plan involves a coup." Now that caught the older Hyuuga's attention. His eyes went wide in disbelief. "A coup d'état has one major benefit; when successful, the usurper can change anything he wants. Depending on the person, it can lead to greatness or to doom. I believe I know the one person that will be able to lead it to greatness." Hiashi had to interrupt the blond here.

"I will not sit here and listen to how an outsider wishes to take over my clan." The Hyuuga went to stand up, but sat down promptly when the next words were spoken.

"It is not me who will take over. I thought that Hyuuga Neji would be a strong, wise and fair leader."

Hiashi wished that he had a nice bottle of sake hidden beneath one of the tatami mats. While it was true that his nephew had proven himself countless times over, a tradition the young male Hyuuga started ever since the Chuunin exams of so many years ago, the fact still remained that he had the Caged Bird Seal and would never be able to stand up to a Main House member. Hiashi voices his thought and watched as that annoying smirk showed itself again.

"Then we have to remove the cage."

"The only one who knew how to remove the seal has perished long ago."

"Removing the seal is simply done. I can erase the mark and its effects. I will be able to 'free' all of your oppressed family members."

"You wish to throw away our traditions?!"

"Traditions are meant to be a guideline, not a prison."

"A rather fitting analogy considering the topic. Still, it has been our way for so long, it will be difficult to adjust, for both the Branch House and the Main house."

"That might be true, but they will all be free. As I understand it, the Seal was also a safety measure to ensure that nobody outside of the clan would ever get their hands on your eyes if one of you might fall in battle. We can adjust the seal so it will still destroy the eyes upon death, but not suppress the person when activated."

"That would keep our tradition in stand of 'branding' a member of the family upon the heir's third birthday as well as the safety of our family's bloodline." Hiashi was letting the suggestions run freely in his mind. He had two more questions, but he wanted to make sure he had covered things that would cause the most problems. A coup was one thing, but if it was the cause of continues takeovers after that, their family line would go extinct in a matter of decades.

"I have two questions. Hinata is the heir of our family, why not let her take over? Why Neji?"

"Because Hinata will start a clan with me. Before you ask, I have my own bloodline, but since mine is rare but still present, it will create changes in her bloodline, creating something new. And I wouldn't be able to make my own family with her as, but would be continuing hers when we have children." Hinata had to fight hard not to pass out at the mention of her and Naruto having children.

"Neji on the other hand is a strong shinobi, a wise leader and a calm man. Those qualities are needed to lead well. He is also of the Branch Family and will therefore be trusted by them, instead of them believing it might be a trap, what would be the case if the heir of the clan coming to them to join her cause and he is a well respected Jounin in the eyes of the Main House members, so acceptance will be relatively easy."

"Valid points indeed. And how will you remove the curse from them without alarming the elders?"

"There will undoubtedly be people outside this dome as we speak, notifying the rest of this household of your 'entrapment'. You can of course not believably tell them that we discussed the wedding, seeing as I asked Hinata's hand in a sound resisting barrier. So why would I need to erect a vision impairing barrier? The answer is simple, I am asking for your support in creating a new village."

If it wasn't for Hiashi being a master at controlling his facial expression, he would have to pick up his jaw from the floor. Apparently the young man…no, the man in front of him had thought this through. He had made several moves ahead by first acting at his finest, then made a sound barrier to ask one thing and then made an anti-vision barrier to propose another. This would cause suspicion among the elders and would have them demand to know what happened in here, thus giving him either an alibi or the perfect opportunity to start their deception.

The blond had kept into consideration the original reason of the Cursed Seal of their family as well as the tradition it was used in. He had chosen an heir that Hiashi himself would approve of and he gave two great opportunities to choose from; either gain more respect from Konoha for his clan if the proposal was denied or expand the clan properly into another village. Not to mention that his daughter would be happy without having to worry about the reaction of the elders. He did want to know more about the bloodline he had and the village he was talking about and what kind of support he required.

"I see that you have thought this through. I would like some more information about this village you are creating, what position my support will earn me and what this bloodline is that will interfere with the Byakugan."

"I wish to restore my ancestral village; the Village Hidden in the Whirlpool. As you are probably aware, Uzushiogakure was founded by my family, but was destroyed slightly after the Second War. I have found the ruins and have inspected the land. The land is full of minerals and can sustain all forms of life due to its climate. It is can also obtain a second source of income due to fishing possibilities and has plenty of space to build on. Your support will be to send Branch Family members to act as sentries for guarding and the very first of my shinobi force. The Byakugan capabilities will secure the safety of my village. While my clan will be the dominant clan, the new Hyuuga branch will be almost as important. It will be like the Uchiha with the Senju." Hiashi thought about it for a while, the position would be higher than what he currently held and the village itself would have a steady income if the man spoke true about the minerals and secondary income.

"My bloodline is however, complicated. I think that you have seen it before." Hiashi witnessed the blond transform into the glowing form that won the war, but gasped in shock when he saw the eyes of the villain that killed his daughter…and then brought her back to life.

"What do you know of the Sage of the Six Paths?" Hiashi shook his head. There was only one thing known about the legendary sage and that was that he was the father of ninja and their arts, besides that…nothing.

"The Rikudoh had two sons. When the man died, he left his eyes and chakra to the oldest son and his body and spirit to his youngest. He had hoped that his youngest would succeed him in creating peace throughout the world. But his oldest son was jealous and fought with his younger brother from that day on. Their fight continued, even after the two formed their own families. The older son formed the Uchiha clan and the younger son the Senju clan." Hiashi was leaning closer in fascination.

"Because his powers were separated, none of the two sons had complete control of their father's heritage. The Sharingan and the Shodaime Hokage's control over the Biju were a result of this. If the two sons would have access to the others part of the inheritance, they would have the Rinnegan, the Doujutsu that allowed the wielder to create something out of nothing. The Senju and the Uchiha were constantly at war with the other, but love finds itself in the most inappropriate of places. Eventually there were members of both clans that fell in love with each other. But since they were denied by their own clan, they eventually started a new one; The Uzumaki clan. By all means the first child born could have had the Rinnegan, but the Doujutsu required the perfect spirit, perfect body and something else. I did not know I had any of these aspects. I only know of it because it was something that Uchiha Madara said when I asked about it. He had awakened the eyes himself because he had the perfect eyes and chakra and when he implanted himself with the Shodaime's DNA he had gained the perfect body and spirit. But even though I had both, mostly thanks to the Kyuubi inside, I missed one component; knowledge. The Rikudoh knew everything there was. And that was how he himself gained his eyes. So when I studied, it started to awaken. It is safe to say that the very first children of the Uzumaki clan missed one of these traits, but did have a good body and chakra, causing them to live longer than average people."

"So that is why the Uzumaki clan was also called the Clan of Longevity." Naruto nodded.

Hiashi saw everything falling into place. Why Madara was as strong as he was, or why the eldest elder could still clearly remember the fights the founding clans of Konoha had with each other while the old man couldn't even remember what he ate the day before. It even explained why Naruto would be able to get rid of the Caged Bird Seal. Who knew the limits of the most powerful Doujutsu that belonged to the most powerful man that ever walked the earth?

The Hyuuga Patriarch sighed, this would be a great chance to obtain several things. He would finally end the curse that befell the Branch members; something he had been trying to do ever since he witnessed it happening to his brother. He would gain a higher standing for his clan, albeit in a different village. His daughter would be happy, while he wouldn't have to deal with the council. He would be a fool not to go along.

"There is nothing I can think of that you haven't covered yourself. How will we proceed?"

Naruto smiled kindly. He opened his jacket and pulled out a bottle of expensive sake. Hiashi looked like it was a gift from heaven before he schooled his expression…somewhat.

"You will send branch members to my village, to help build it. Most of them do not follow the orders of the Hokage, so there shouldn't be much of an issue there and your council should be happy with it since it will raise the clan's standing. They are assured of their loyalty because of the Cursed Seal so they don't have to worry about that."

"When they are gone, Neji will soon follow. He will have to desert Konoha for a while."

"What? That boy's loyalty to our village is unshakable. He will never go along with it. Besides, his fiancée lives here."

"He will not betray Konoha. For my ultimate plan is to restore it to its former glory. The village has fallen since the old days. It was strong and proud, but now, the civilians have too much say in the matters of the shinobi. The Hidden Leaf is and always has been a ninja village, but we let the civilians gain too much power and now, we cannot revoke it. If they would have instated any other Hokage, I would never have minded, but to name a traitor to our village to lead it? It is too sad to even put into words."

"And what do you plan to do about it. You cannot lead two villages." Hiashi stated. Taking over a clan was one thing; taking over a village of shinobi was completely different.

"I will rebuild the Senju clan." This time Hiashi's jaw actually dropped.

"How?"

"Let me worry about that. I will lead an attack on the village. But if everything goes according to plan, the attack will cause no casualties among the civilians and shinobi. There will be only one death and that will be the Rokudaime Hokage. I plan to take Sarutobi Konohamaru with me and train him. As soon as we are ready, we will take over the city and have him instated. Then we can reorganize the political structure without having to deal with the rules. The villagers will accept Konohamaru because of his lineage and as soon as the first Senju heir is able, he or she can take their rightful place as Nanadaime Hokage. Seeing as about that time the now young Sarutobi will be ready to retire. By that time Neji will be back in the village, leading the Hyuuga because his coup will take place during my 'invasion'."

"You have thought about this a lot have you, Naruto-dono?"

"Yes I have sir."

"Will you give me time to think about all this?"

"I can give you two days, I have to arrange several things and most of them are influenced by your decision."

"Very well, come see me again at dusk in two days time."

X

Hinata and Naruto left right after that, Hinata noted that her father seemed interested. Naruto was happy to hear that. In two days time, he would have the answer and was expecting a positive reply.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 04 – Preparations**

Tazuna was waiting for Naruto to show up. He and his grandson Inari had quickly come to the conclusion to accept the offer. In all honesty, they had decided to accept as soon as Naruto left two months ago. The two men had been designing buildings and village lay-outs for the past two months. Tsunami, though not experienced in buildings and the works, often gave a quick suggestion when the two men went over their plans. Men could be very single-minded sometime.

The lady of the house was just preparing lunch when she heard her son shouting that Naruto had arrived. She wasn't looking forward to this day. Both her father and her son would be leaving for spirits know how long, while she had to remain here. Or did she? Surely they needed someone to support them? Yes, she would not remain here alone, she would join them. As soon as she stepped out of the kitchen, Inari rushed in to get his and his grandfathers belongings; apparently they would leave right away. Once outside, she greeted the new arrival. He asked her a question which nearly made her drop the tray of tea she had been holding and shoot inside faster than her son had just a minute ago.

"Are you ready to go Tsunami-san?"

Tazuna asked if it was okay for her to come with, to which Naruto merely chuckled and said that he needed a woman's touch. And in his case he could use several women's opinions about designing a complete village. To both male's amusement, Tsunami was out sooner than Inari and the woman hadn't even prepared to leave beforehand. The group of four would head to Konoha. It would be easier to travel to the island from there, even though they were now technically closer to it.

The journey wasn't all that eventful besides one bandit attack. They were easily dispatched by Naruto, but Tsunami was a bit more introverted after that, constantly looking over her shoulder. It took Naruto almost a full day to assure her of her safety. She blushed at his words.

"I will protect you with my life." Spirits, how she loved to hear a man say it to her. She would have to get herself in some more problems soon.

After four days of traveling, the group arrived. They went straight for Naruto's apartment and were quite surprised to see three women sitting there. The three waiting ladies looked with raised eyebrow at the unknown woman and Tsunami practically felt herself getting smaller. Naruto quickly introduced them and the family went slack jawed when he introduced his fiancées.

After the introductions, they all made their way to Naruto's bedroom, shifted his bed to the side and teleported to the Uzushio ruins. Once there, the three new arrivals looked around in wonder. All three of them had heard of the place, their island was right next door after all, but they would never have thought to actually see it up close, let alone build a new village there.

Naruto quickly summed a small stone platform so that they could look over the plans in detail. Naruto had decided to first build a few easy to remove houses for temporarily living arrangements. He informed the group of people that he had arranged with Gaara to send several laborers. It paid off to have friends. Tazuna inquired about a budget and started crying when he heard he could go crazy.

Naruto had earned quite the amount of money by defeating Sasuke, Obito, Madara, Pein, Kakazu and Zetsu. Next to that he saved several countries and the Kazekage with high rewards and an inheritance of his parents, Jiraiya and Kakashi. In short, he was loaded to the point he could be a Feudal Lord. He had covered the professionals needed by hiring them from neighboring villages and from Suna, and he covered the manpower by summoning a few hundred clones. All that was needed now was supplies, which he got partially covered by asking a favor from yet another person he had saved during the war.

Yamato had been captured by Kabuto and used by Obito to strengthen the army of Zetsu clones by sticking the man INTO the Gedou Mazou. When the fighting with the Demon Statue had ended, it started to dissolve into tin light particles, all rising up into the air. If what Obito had said, the statue was going back to the moon. It was almost too late that Naruto saw Yamato in the statue and pure luck that he got the former team captain out before he too disappeared towards the moon. It had taken a month for the Wood User to regain consciousness, but he had promised Naruto, like many others, to help him no matter what his request was. Of course, over the years Naruto had gained an understanding with the man. So he would make absolutely certain that Yamato wasn't going to overwork himself, he didn't save the man just so he could die of chakra exhaustion.

X

Two months into the building, the major planning finished and making good progress with the construction, Naruto took Tsunade down into the library. The older woman was nervous. The two of them would make the woman younger. If it wasn't Naruto, she probably would have smacked him through the entirety of the Elemental Nations, but she trusted him and his theory seemed…plausible enough.

One of the abilities of the Rinnegan was to grant life or death. Nagato had used this ability when Naruto had defeated him to restore the lives he had taken during his invasion of Konoha. There were two reasons however why Naruto's fate would not end up the same. First one was that Nagato had to resurrect hundreds upon hundreds of people, for that many people he had to use all of his own life force. Second one was that Nagato didn't meet the requirements for it to activate on its own, even if he had the bloodline. Instead it was implanted in him by Madara; his body breaking down and getting him into a wheelchair was a result of it. Naruto had awakened it on his own because he met the requirement of perfect body, spirit, chakra and knowledge.

Tsunade believed all that and she saw the logic in it, but what made her nervous was…she wasn't dead and even if she was, it didn't explain how she would get thirty something years back of her life. His explanation to that was simple as well, and sounded…feasible, but was slightly dangerous. According to Naruto, from the moment a person is conceived, they are given a fixed amount of life force. That life force will burn and burn. The fire starts out small, but grows with the growth of the person, but after a certain age, the fire will steadily die down until the life force runs out. It was like starting a fire. Once you light a piece of wood, the flame will slowly spread and become larger, but at some point, it doesn't get larger but start to die down as the fuel runs out. The technique would normally reignite the remaining life force within a person, which would resurrect them. In this situation however, he would add purified life force to hers, adding fuel in result, reversing what time had caused. She wouldn't have agreed if Naruto was going to sacrifice thirty years of his own life, but once again he had taken that into consideration. He wouldn't have to use his own life force. He had an immortal being made of chakra in him. Now she was somewhere where nobody was allowed to go without Naruto, so they would have privacy here and he had sealed it off for sound. He didn't think it would hurt, but one does not have certainties with doing this for the first time.

Tsunade lied down on the stone altar Naruto had summoned and undid her Genjutsu as he requested. She had never before shown her true self without the Genjutsu to anyone; she didn't count Sakura during the Pein attack apparently. If this was going to work, then she was showing her fiancé how she was going to look like in thirty years. She was afraid to open her eyes. She was afraid to see disgust in his eyes; in the eyes of the boy she had come to adore as a brother, like as a young man and was starting to love as a man. But it was something she had to face. She had to see his expression and was glad she did.

He was smiling at her. Not patronizing, not condescending and not grimacing. He was just smiling his usual warm, true smile at her. Now it wasn't just 'starting to love' anymore; it was just love now. He gave her a quick kiss. Not a kiss a toddler gives his mother, but a loving kiss, their very first kiss at that, a real kiss on the lips. The two savored the moment for just that, the moment, before he said that he had no idea if it would hurt and that he would stop as soon as she gave the word. He told her that he would accept her no matter how she looked or how old she was. What kind of woman could turn away a man like that, a hero in shiny armor that was kind and accepting? She sure wasn't going to.

Tsunade closed her eyes, waiting for something to happen; she wasn't sure what to prepare for. She felt a hand on her chest, right where her heart was and felt warmth radiate from it. The warmth got warmer and warmer till it got hot and hotter until it was burning. The burning could almost cloud the rest of the sensations; the stretching of her skin, the burning on her scalp, the filling of her flesh and the crunching of her joints. She didn't scream once; it really didn't hurt, but it was a discomfort that was so strong that it went passed annoying to almost painful, but not quite yet. At some point it stopped, but she didn't open her eyes until Naruto gave the word.

She opened her eyes and didn't want to see how the procedure turned out by simply looking at her hands. She looked over at Naruto and found him smiling. It seems that he was pleased with the result. She would just have to wait for a bit longer before she could find a full length mirror before she could judge for herself. Naruto helped her stand up, though it wasn't necessary; she hadn't felt this light in years. Now she really couldn't wait for that mirror.

X

Anko and Hinata were getting to know each other a little bit better under the perfect circumstances. They were at their fiancés home drinking a nice red bean soup and eating a cinnamon bun and dango respectively. They found out quite quickly that while Tsunade and Naruto liked savory food, Hinata and Anko liked sweets. The two ladies were just exchanging some war stories and tales about what they had experienced with Naruto when they heard footsteps behind them.

Naruto came walking in with a not so different looking Tsunade. The four stared at each other, before the loud mouth of the group, the female one, asked if the technique worked or not. Tsunade was surprised by the question. She wanted to go to the bathroom first; it was the only place where she could find a mirror, but Naruto wouldn't allow her; he dragged her to her fellow fiancées. With simply one sentence, the two former younger women rushed to hug their now same aged peer.

"She is not using her transformation technique."

X

Neji had planned to have a simple training day. No Rock Lee or Might Guy or even his bride-to-be, just himself with some peaceful meditation and running through a few katas. His whole plan got shot to hell when he was summoned by Hiashi-sama. He didn't mind his uncle all that much since the conversation they had seven years ago, when he lost to Naruto, but the man was still all about the clan and nothing else. While on missions Neji preferred it to be business only, but he wished his uncle would simply take the time to simply have tea with him, even if only once. Being the dutiful man he was, he merely nodded at the servant that delivered the message and made his way to room overlooking the garden, where his uncle had his business meetings.

When he arrived there, he had come upon a sight he did not soon expect to see; his uncle with two bottles of sake. He wondered if the spirits heard his thought from a mere moment ago and decided to add a little more, but looked with a curious look at his clan leader. The man in question was as stoic as ever and even if the setting was supposed to be inviting, with the host sitting without emotion, you might as well have hot coals to sit on.

That didn't mean that Neji kept standing. No, he took a seat and waited for whatever talk was about to happen to begin, but Hiashi-sama merely nodded and seemed to be waiting. After three minutes, what Neji thought was reasonable to wait for the person that requested to see you to speak, he heard people approaching. When he took a look behind him, he saw that both Hinata and Naruto were joining them. He looked at the reaction of his uncle and saw that the man had expected them. So this was what they were waiting for.

Even though he had seen Naruto when he had come back a few months ago, he was still a bit surprised by the change the man had went through. No longer was he the loud mouthed 'brat' he was all those years prior. In front of him was a man that radiated serenity, wisdom and strength. He was not the only one that had changed though. Hinata seemed to be confident and she had lost her stutter. Ever since his lost battle with Naruto, he had begun to open up to the girl. Even though he had almost killed her during the preliminaries of the Chuunin exam when they were but twelve and thirteen, she had not once stopped calling him 'big brother'. The talk was amicable, but he was smart enough to know that there was a reason why they were all assembled.

When all pleasantries were over and done with, three pair of eyes focused on the young Hyuuga male. He felt slightly cornered at first, wondering what was going on. He had not seen Hiashi so relaxed ever and though Neji thought it might have something to do with the barrier that surrounded them, it still seemed a bit off to him. As was expected of him, he gave his honest opinion to every question that was being asked off him. What did he find of the current state of the village? How were his missions going? How was it like being in charge of a group of people? Did he like the responsibilities? He didn't see any connection to any of these questions, but kept quiet about his own curiosity.

It wasn't until Naruto made the barrier that they were in black and unable to see through that the young man was alert and went in a defensive stance. It only lasted a moment before Hiashi opened up his mouth and uttered the next sentence that he dropped that pose. Literally; his knees buckled and collapsed in sheer surprise.

"Neji, you will 'desert' this village and prepare to attack Konoha and take over the Hyuuga clan."

If his All Seeing White Eye wasn't able to see through Genjutsu easily, he would have killed the imposter immediately. But even with his Byakugan activated, all he could see was his uncle, niece and one of the only people he respected in this village. So Neji just took another swig and asked his companions to repeat what they just said. His eyes might be great, but maybe his ears were acting up.

He had wanted to process the order he had just received from his clan leader, but didn't get the chance to when the barrier lifted and Tenten together with her parents joined them. He was confused before, but it was getting worse by the second. The barrier was set once more, much to the alarm of Tenten and her family. They were reassured by Hiashi and Hinata that there wasn't anything to worry about. So now there were four highly confused people together with three people waiting for their guests to calm down.

Neji composed first and waited patiently for an explanation. Tenten's father was next, followed by his wife and daughter. They all accepted a dish of sake, which were downed quite fast, before they returned their eyes to their previous target. The group of four was waiting for an explanation and it came from Naruto. He had a proposal for them. He wanted them to join his village. And all was quiet once more. Neji used the opportunity to process the words he hadn't gotten time to think about earlier and patiently waited for the rest of the story.

When all of the people had calmed down somewhat, Naruto told them about his upcoming village. The three clanless, Tenten and her parents, were skeptical about it; not unjustified. Her father might be from a long line of blacksmiths, but her mother was once a proud kunoichi of Konoha. The thought of leaving the village where she had been brought up was a huge pill to swallow. Neji was listening to every word that was exchanged between his mother-in-law and his friend. So far he hadn't heard a single word about him or what was mentioned earlier by his clan leader in the entire conversation.

Tenten' father Kayija Gāng and mother Kyoki Gāng, seemed susceptible of the idea. They, like many others were not at all pleased with the current Hokage. The 'Hokage' seemed to be spending more time with his military power than with the state of his village's welfare. The older couple had plenty of business, but the business that came was more preoccupied by the quantity that was demanded instead of the quality. In other words, the level of work that had to be performed was falling. As a blacksmith it meant that his customers did not fully appreciate his work and as a former kunoichi it meant that something wasn't right amongst the shinobi ranks, if they were discarding the quality of their weapons.

Even though the Gāng elders were tempted to open up a business in a new village, which might actually appreciate their work; their daughter and their son-in-law were a different matter. Both had friends here and the thought of betraying them did not sit well. They may not have any love for the man that currently led their village, Neji almost died because of his betrayal, but they were shinobi of Konoha, no matter who sat on its throne. Hiashi, Naruto and Hinata had expected the two to react like that. Their loyalty to the village was one of their best aspects. So they had to carefully explain everything in detail.

Most of the plan was directed at Neji, so he had the most to process. The plan involved him, making a branch house in another village with the branch family members. The seal on their forehead would be removed and they would be given another seal that had only one function; destroy the eyes upon death, to keep the Byakugan safe. The Branch house in the new village would become the equivalent of the Konoha Police force. Their eyes would be able to overlook the entire village to protect the villagers and as sentries they would be responsible for the entry points to the village. Of course there would also be shinobi, Neji could teach his family some of the basics. After a few years, Neji would come back and take over the Main House. Since the Caged Bird Seal is removed, the Main Family cannot use it against him and when he takes over he can remove the current council and abolish the oppression he and the rest of the Branch House had to go through.

Well, that explained the part about taking over the Hyuuga clan. Now the attack on Konoha part. A topic that alarmed Tenten and her parents; who weren't present when it was first mentioned.

Naruto told them that he was going to rebuild the Senju clan so they could take their rightful place. Of course, it would be at least 22 years before any offspring would be able to take over. So he would take the grandchild of the Sandaime with him to train. The boy would take over Konoha and begin its restoration until he was ready to retire and let the descendant of the founding father take over. The lineages of the two would appease the public and with proper schooling and training they would be fit to become a leader. But it wasn't until Naruto said that he would do everything in his power to ensure the safety of the villagers and the lives of shinobi, that Neji, Tenten and her parents seemed to open up towards the idea.

Tenten at this point was beginning to feel left out. Her parents had gotten a business opportunity, her soon to be husband had been given the offer of a lifetime, while she was the odd one out. Hinata seemed to pick up on the weapon wielders mood and began to inform her what her role could be if she joined them.

Tenten's expertise with weaponry would be invaluable in the teaching of the next generation. She would help Neji with the forming of a new Branch of the Hyuuga. The self-proclaimed Weapons Mistress felt a bit relieved at that; she wasn't one to just sit on the side and watch how others busy themselves in their duties. But it still felt a bit wrong to leave her village. Sure her parents would join her and so would her fiancé, but would it be worth it? Her thoughts were interrupted by Neji, who wanted to know HOW he can guarantee the safety of everybody when taking over Konoha.

"I have the support of every clan leader in Konoha. Once I give the signal, the clans will fall back. That will cause a drop in moral, since the clan's are the major source of strength of the shinobi force. I will only need to land one hit on an enemy to place a seal on a foe to paralyze them, so everybody I touch will be unable to get back up again without getting injured. And I alone will attack the village."

The looks the blond received were skeptical at best. How could one man defeat an entire village? They didn't have to think long before they realized who they were talking to; Uzumaki Naruto, Demon Container to the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox and hero of the war against the Akatsuki and the man that defeated an opponent that singlehandedly bested the Five Kages. It wasn't that farfetched actually; to take over a village alone.

The conversation stopped right after that and the people went their separate ways. This was not a decision to take lightly.

X

Konohamaru was having a nice day, his big brother was back in town and they were going to have a nice bowl of ramen. It would be their last. The Ichirakus were moving out of the village and wanted to settle somewhere else. Konohamaru wasn't as big on ramen as his brother was, but he still liked it. After that, the two would train a little. The last Sarutobi hadn't fought Naruto in years; he was looking forward to the sparring match.

The ramen was nice, but there seemed to be something going on with the owners of the restaurant and Naruto. Konohamaru just shrugged it off. The three of them always had a very good relationship. The meal was eaten with lots of questions from Naruto's part. About how life was going or how did he like being a ninja or how his quest to become Hokage was proceeding. The younger boy blushed a bright scarlet when Naruto asked if he and Moegi were together as a couple. It was a bit of payback from the blond about the little event that occurred with Sakura right before they met Gaara for the first time.

After paying for the meal and saying goodbye to Teuchi and Ayame, the two went to training ground 7. Naruto looked around a bit at first; relishing in the memories he had of this place with Kakashi in them. He didn't care about the other two that also were in those memories. Naruto took a good look at the young man in front of him and gave a small smile before he turned serious.

"Will you come with me to train, Konohamaru?"

Every bit of fighting spirit left the brown haired boy immediately. He was practicing his imitation of a fish too seriously to think about fighting. Naruto in all that time had not softened his expression and kept waiting for the reply. Konohamaru couldn't believe it. He had asked the blond ever since they met to help him train, but he never did. He taught him a few things when Ebisu was away or too busy with other duties, but never actually train. He didn't even have to think about it; the only reason it took so long to answer was because of his brain shutting down. As soon as he heard the answer being yelled, Naruto smiled at the boy again. Everything was falling into place. Now he would go to the Hyuuga compound to see how the last part of his preparations was going.

Konohamaru totally forgot about the spar they were supposed to have and walked with his soon to be teacher. He had no idea where they were going at that moment, but it didn't matter, all he had was questions. Would he learn more of those awesome jutsu like the Rasengan? Where would they be going? Were they going somewhere? How long would it take? Could he tell everyone about it or was it a super secret? The brunette was a bit miffed when Naruto just kept saying 'you'll see' or 'you'll find out soon enough'.

The duo arrived at the Hyuuga compound entrance. The young Sarutobi had absolutely no clue about why they were here. Naruto seemed to anticipate something, so Konohamaru just kept silent. It didn't take long before Hyuuga Neji stepped out of the door and greeted the two. The younger one of the three was curious why the Hyuuga asked if he accepted; what did the raven haired man have to do with his training? Things were getting suspicious for the boy when the Hyuuga said that 'they' accepted as well then. Naruto handed the other man a scroll and said that he had to give it to his mother- and father-in-law and they should go to Wave and show it on the docks. Everything would then be taken care of. Neji was told he had to come to Naruto's house when he and Tenten were ready and then they would go. The two men agreed and separated, with Naruto leading on to the next location.

The entire walk, Konohamaru was silent; the whole short conversation that his brother just had was disturbing him. He couldn't place his finger on it, but something, somewhere there was trouble; he just knew it. But what?

"What's going on, Boss?"

Naruto turned on the spot and simply looked at the boy. They were only four years apart in age, but he could see that thankfully, the grandson of the Sandaime hadn't seen the horrors of war and had stayed relatively innocent. He was extremely grateful for that. The blond thought it over for a moment, before asking something in return.

"Do you trust me?" The boy nodded.

"Have I ever done anything that you think is questionable?" The boy shook his head.

"Can you wait some more then, before I explain?" The boy didn't nod right away, but he did eventually.

X

Uchiha Sasuke was getting more annoyed by the moment. First Senju Tsunade and her apprentice Kato Shizune left the village. He couldn't stop them because a Sennin is allowed to move freely if they wish to and can take their chosen apprentice with them as they please. So now his Health Care Department missed their two best doctors and his own wife was left without tutoring. A few deserters here and there, but that is nothing unusual; desertion happens everywhere. It really did.

Besides that, the council was pressuring him to start with the building of his clan. He had been married for a month now and he was tired of explaining how baby making worked, since the old bastards of the council seem to be forgetting that it takes nine months before a baby 'pops out'. His wife didn't like to be referred to as a baby factory so she had been quite the nag about it. He thanked everything he knew of for the paperwork that his job supplied.

He was looking over another missing nin report, another one from the Hyuuga he noted, when the door burst open and the number one knucklehead of the village came in. Sasuke was surprised to see that he wasn't alone. With him was the heir of the Sarutobi clan. Well, survivor was more like it. Naruto informed him that he had chosen Konohamaru as his disciple and that the boy would be accompanying him on a training trip around the world.

Sasuke refused immediately, he was not going to allow one of his shinobi to go off for who knew how long to train. Naruto never lost his composure and simply told the Uchiha that as a Sennin he was allowed to go where he wanted and that he had the right to choose a disciple to take with him. He didn't even need permission from the Hokage, but he wanted to be polite to the leader of the village. Sasuke was visibly seething with rage, but he knew the rules and he knew that the 'dope' had indeed every right. The duo just left the extremely annoyed man, opting to go get Konohamaru all packed and ready.

He had to say goodbye to a few people. Naruto told Konohamaru to say goodbye to his little girlfriend Moegi.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 05 – Wedding**

Gaara was standing on the prow of a ship, silently admiring the progress that had been made to Naruto's village. His siblings came up behind him, also admiring the structure above a whirlpool. They all knew who came up with it, but they would praise him all the same when they would meet up. On top of six pillars, which were standing in the outer rings of the whirlpool, was a wooden house, as wide as the whirlpool itself was. No one would ever find out HOW the structure was build, but it was a marvel to see something being built on top of something that could easily swallow the biggest ship known to man.

In the little house there seemed to be guards sitting and were shouting at the captain of the cruiser Gaara with his entourage were traveling on. The whirlpool seemed to slowdown before the vortex of water completely disappeared. Every guest on the ship watched in amazement as the water stilled.

Others were more preoccupied by what was up ahead. The boat passed through the pillars underneath the guardhouse. There was one berth ahead of them after some more sailing to give incoming vessels enough room to maneuver. The berth was connected to one large wharf that had two other berths. Another guard post a ways from each pier. The berths seemed to be for the bigger passenger vessels as three other ships were already on them, while smaller ships and boats, probably for fishing, were secured directly to the wharf, unloading their haul of the day.

The ship docked without further issues and the passengers landed a bit unsteadily. Travelling by sea was not done often by the people of Suna so some of them were either sick or wobbly. Gaara seemed to have none of these problems and waited patiently for his siblings and his guards. His guards were instantly around him when they were approached by a young man. The young man was a little bit surprised by the sudden movement, but relaxed his stance when he noticed it wasn't necessarily directed at him.

The man was wearing navy blue cargo pants on top of simple slippers, a sleeveless black shirt and his long black hair was held back with a forehead protector with a swirl engraved in it. The man bowed formally and announced that he was there to guide Kazekage through the gates and handle the paperwork when they would be cleared. So the Suna group followed their guide.

Never having been there before, they all looked around in wonder as they saw people bustling about, shouting about ropes and securing this or that. This place was supposed to be new, but it was overflowing with life. The group passed by several warehouses on each side of the road before they came upon a large gate, which reminded them a bit of the gates of Konoha, probably because of the wall around it that surrounded the harbor and ended slightly in the sea. Every arrival had to get processed here. It was a great security measure. They passed the gate easily enough and proceeded to enter the village.

As soon as they did, they entered a small park. It was only a few yards, but on the left side of the road stood a memorial. Gaara had been told of the remains that Naruto found when he first came here, he also said that he had buried them somewhere. He didn't think that the blond would actually go as far as make a memorial for them. He looked over to see what it said.

**To those who came before me in seasons long ago  
To those who are the loved-ones that I will never know  
To those whose noble names I bear, whose light within me burns  
To those whose lives of courage prepared the way for me  
Whose works became my heritage whose harvest I may reap  
Who left for me a legacy that I have yet to earn  
To them in gratitude shall my heart be turned**

**Shin-Uzusiogakure will always remember those that have fallen**

**Whether in past or future, our comrades will be honored**

Gaara smiled a little at the text. It was probably more than the lost souls would have asked for, but there was nobody that could object to the sentiment. Everybody would pass it; they would see the monument and would at least think about those that came before. Isn't that what live was about? To do something that will make people remember you?

From there on it was obvious that the building was nowhere near finished. Every meter they walked they could see construction sites, workers and supplies. True, there were some shops open selling groceries and yes there seemed to be some finished houses, but most of it was still work-in-progress. Eventually the Suna group arrived at the city square. In the middle of it was a large round building with the symbol of the village on it. It didn't need to be guessed that this was the office of the village leader and public service. The square led to five different roads, one of which they came from; between every road there stood a building facing the center.

A gasp informed the group to look somewhere else and Kankuro was pointing at a building that was sand colored, three stories high and had the symbol of Suna above the entrance. Gaara felt his eye brow lift in curiosity, but he would have to wait to ask what the deal behind it was. When he looked around some more he noticed that next to the building with 'Suna', on the other side of the road, the same kind of structure, only yellow with the symbol of Kumo on it. He turned around and as he expected, there was the same building, just lightly brown with Iwa on it and next to that light blue with Kiri. Now he had a pretty good idea what was going on, but would ask later to be certain.

The guide had given them the time to look at the center of their village, but after a moment or two…or four, he gathered his charges and continued their walk. The group had expected to go to the center building, but they walked past in and also passed the reddish building with Konoha's mark on it and continued down on of the main streets. There seemed to be more completed building on this side. Or well enough to start using it. Like a school, a blacksmith, an orphanage and a clinic.

The street ended and they were standing in front of a large compound. The walls seemed to go on and on without end to the left side, but only went on for a yard or two before going around the corner on the right. Next to it stood another compound, slightly smaller, but still quite large on its own. The front gates of the gate in front of them were of a massive oak and were big enough to fit an elephant. On the door there were three symbols positioned in a triangle. On top it was a purple Uzumaki clan sign of a swirl, below it on the left side was the well known green Senju symbol of one fine horizontal line that opened up in two incomplete circles near both ends and to its right was a blue symbol nobody had seen before. It was a circle with three waves on the bottom half and three waving stripes above it.

The guide knocked and loud yelling could be heard from the other side. The large door opened and revealed a purple haired woman in a mesh suit underneath a red bustier and a brown mini-skirt. Gaara and his siblings recognized the woman as the proctor of the Chuunin exam where they met Naruto. She was a bit loud, but she thanked the man that brought the group here and took them inside. The visitors walked through a small front yard that had a sand garden on both sides. Gaara stopped for just a brief second, to which Anko stopped to look what the holdup was and saw that her guest was shifting the sand of Naruto's garden. Instead of the carefully lined streaks and swirls, the surface was now completely smooth and sported the symbol of Suna. Kankuro had to hold his laughter when they entered the building.

Once inside they noticed that they were probably the last once to arrive, which wasn't all that strange since they had the longest distance to travel. They were surprised when they saw that the former bodyguard of the Tsuchikage was now the Yondaime of Iwa. Apparently old Oonoki had passed away a few months ago. Still, what the people that had met Akatsuchi knew of the rotund man was that he was a patient and kind man that knew when there was a time for action and a time for peace. Next to him sat the Sandaime's granddaughter which seemed be laughing quite loud at something.

Naruto was sitting comfortably with a brown haired boy, Hyuuga Neji and his girl Tenten, who seemed to be a bit wary of Temari, Hyuuga Hinata, Lady Tsunade with Shizune and was joined by Mitarashi Anko.

The Mizukage was here together with Chojuro, Aoi was left behind to do the paperwork in her stead. The Raikage with his little brother B and Darui, Mabui, Samui, Atsui, Karui and Omoi, Gaara was slightly thankful that he wasn't the only one with a large group. He had his fiancé Matsuri with him, his sister Temari, his brother Kankuro with his wife Shosuna and Baki. Kankuro seemed to gasp when he saw the brown haired lad sitting next to Naruto, but Gaara had difficulties recognizing the boy.

The young man stood up together with Naruto and walked over to the new arrivals. Konohamaru went straight to Kankuro and greeted him. The two stood awkward for one moment before the first few chuckles sounded and laughter soon followed. As soon as Kankuro said that the boy certainly wasn't a brat anymore, Gaara remembered. It was the grandson of the Sandaime Hokage that Kankuro almost abused just before the Chuunin Exams.

X

Greetings were exchanged between everybody and things got lively soon. Of course there were tons of questions that Naruto and his brides had to answer. None were too serious and every answer seemed to turn into a story on its own.

"How did you get so many villagers? You have been building for how long now? Four months?"

"Well, I went to the Feudal Lord of Hot Water, to try and get him to send his shinobi requests to me instead of Konoha. Along the way I took Konohamaru with me to see the world and train him. We came through several villages that were being terrorized by bandits. Every time the Feudal Lord hired Konoha to get rid of them a new group showed up. They had no food or money because of the constant raids, so after freeing the imprisoned villagers I offered them a place to stay. I even went to several orphanages and took all the children with me, so they could either train to become shinobi or learn a trade of their own choice after they finish their basic education."

"The building started six months ago and has been going without too much trouble. Thanks to my funds, and my endless supply of chakra, the workforce is constant, and with the experts I hired everything is going according to plan."

"How is your shinobi force coming along?"

"It was a bit of a slow start and it still isn't anything near good enough for this village to become a ninja village, but I posted special posters everywhere I went. Those posters are sealed and can only be viewed by descendants of the Uzumaki clan who pour their chakra in it. Till now no actual relative has shown up, but descendants from former shinobi of Uzushio recognized the symbol of the village and came here to see if there was something going on."

"What have you completed so far?"

"Mine and the Hyuuga Branch compound are complete, as is my and the public service office. The harbor was the first thing that needed to get finished, so there's that. We're almost finished with the Hospital, luckily there have only been minor accidents during the construction. The Basics School is coming along nicely, together with the Ninja Academy. Then there are still houses and stores that are done, but not yet perfected."

"What do you mean basic school?

"I have decided that I will give a basic education to the children before they advance to the shinobi Academy. In Konoha, every child went to the Academy to learn math and reading and whatever. Here, you will get that at Basics School that will start from age five till nine. After that a choice can be made. Try to become a shinobi or pursuit another career. That way, the children will be filtered and the Ninja Academy can focus on actual shinobi related education."

"What were those buildings surrounding your office?"

"Well those…those are to be embassies. I made one for every great nation. It is complete with office and living arrangement so that you can send a dignitary here. We have all fought and bled together and I wanted to make sure that we remain allies. By giving each of your villages their own office here, I can discuss matters with your representative instead of traveling the lands to meet you or the other way around. And, if one of your shinobi is in trouble, in need of guidance or just wants to have a quick rest on their journey home, they can visit their nation's office, and stay there instead of finding a hotel; which I don't have yet by the way."

"Even Konoha?"

"Yes, even Konoha, eventually."

"Did you tell everybody what you did to the Uchiha?"

"Now that you mention it, I only told you and your brother. Well, I was reading a book about the history of Kiri. We all know about the tyrant Yagura that instigated the bloodline purge. It appears that he was not the first one that had that idea. There was a man who designed a seal that would…cut off the reproducing capabilities of people; to stop the continuation of the once feared bloodlines. The Shodaime Mizukage did not approve and destroyed the man's research. But it gave me an idea, so I adjusted an existing seal to have to same function. In other words, the Uchiha clan will end with Sasuke."

There was a heavy silence for a while. The Uchiha were revered warriors for generations. They had all witnessed the strength of their two strongest. Sasuke was not loved by anyone in the room because of his crimes, but to castrate him without him knowing it seemed a bit cruel. Then again, as soon as the visitors from Kumo started laughing out loud, the mood lifted. Food was served and sake kept flowing and the gathering lasted well into the evening. At some point Naruto stood up with his group.

"I'm thankful that you came and happy to see you all in good health, but it is getting late and I suggest we get some sleep. My wedding will start early tomorrow and I need my beauty sleep."

X

The very next day, the few villagers and all the guests were gathered at the center of Shin-Uzushio. All of the foreign guests were dressed up; the Kages in their formal robes, the women in colorfully embroidered kimonos and the men in black hakamas. The four Kages stood in front of the building facing the crowd. They would perform the ceremony, albeit different than normal. Since a temple was not yet build and no priest was in the village, the traditional wedding, a priest conducting it with sake being exchanged between the families, would be altered. Instead of the priest, there were the leaders of the four largest nations that would watch over their oaths and since Anko, Tsunade and Naruto had no family, the vows would be spoken between each other instead of directed at the respective families.

The mutterings of the people were all hushed as three ladies in pure white kimonos were accompanied by three Narutos in black hakamas. Each Naruto had a different clan emblem on his chest and back embroidered in gold. The one on the left had the symbol of the Senju on his back, the one in the middle of the Uzumaki and the one on the right the strange one that nobody recognized. The people parted to let the three couples through and shuffled back into place as the brides and groom(s?) took their place in front of the Kages. Seeing as Gaara was a bit too stoic, A too loud and Akatsuchi too mellow, Terumi Mei stepped forward to lead the ceremony.

"To all those gathered here today, we thank you for bearing witness to the unification of these four individuals. Seeing as the circumstances are a bit…different than normal." Nobody could stop the laughter that followed. How could they? Here stood one man times three marrying three women at the same time, but every woman will have a different clan name.

"Let us proceed one at a time. Do you, Senju Tsunade, take Naruto as your husband?" "I do."

"And do you, Naruto, take Senju Tsunade as your wife?" "I do."

"Do you, Mitarashi Anko, take Uzumaki Naruto as your husband?" "I do."

"Do you, Uzumaki Naruto, take Mitarashi Anko as your wife?" "I do."

"Do you, Hyuuga Hinata, take Namikaze Naruto as your husband?" So the strange symbol was of the Namikaze clan. "I do."

"Do you, Namikaze Naruto, take Hyuuga Hinata as your wife?" "I do."

"Then witnessed by four of the Five Great Nations; I present Uzumaki Namikaze Senju Naruto, with his wives Senju Tsunade, Uzumaki Anko and Namikaze Hinata. Now let the festivities begin!"

There was quite some laughter about the highly unusual wedding. With the gifts that the foreigners had brought and the supplies the village had gathered specifically for this day, the feast started at noon and ended only when the first 10 people passed out from alcohol. There would be no work today and tomorrow, so everybody could cut loose. There were drinking games for the adults, 'magic' tricks for the children. People of all classes mingled and danced, all in all, everybody had a great time.

The compound that housed the now three clans was empty safe for Naruto and his ladies. His guests would stay the rest of their visit in their respective embassies. There weren't enough rooms for everybody to have privacy, but seeing as there were some couples among them, sharing a room wasn't a real big problem. Naruto needed his privacy that night…and the rest of the week.

The start of his clans was about to begin. Thank the spirits for his endless stamina.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 06 – Finishing**

Seven months after the wedding, the village that was in complete ruins a mere eleven months ago was bustling with life. Fish mongers with every variety shouting to attract attention, shinobi coming and going from and to missions, children laughing and playing, the hospital was receiving patients that never could have treatment before they came to the village. And it was all thanks to the Uzukage.

Said man was sitting at his favorite restaurant in the whole world; Ichiraku Ramen. It had taken quite the persuasion skills to get Teuchi to move his establishment to a new location. Especially since business was good in a stable village. But seeing as Naruto was their best customer and they honestly liked the boy as if he were family, they decided to take the risk. And they were thankful everyday that they had taken the offer. The little bar that they had was gone and in its stead was a full restaurant. The children of the village were treated often enough by Naruto, and since 'Uzukage-sama' ate there, people literally flocked the place. They were even thinking of hiring people when three children expressed their wish to become a ramen chef. This of course made the old man chuckle, but when his daughter Ayame adopted the two boys and girl that made the statement, the old man saw that he might have created a nice inheritance to his baby girl and his new grandchildren.

Neji Hyuuga was also a pleased man. After marrying Tenten and with their first born underway, his clan was making great progress. Most of the branch members still had trouble adjusting when the Caged Bird Seal was removed and accepting the new Bloodline Safeguard. But the first security members had showed to both their clan and the village that they were appreciated and needed. They had stopped several infiltrators coming into the city and even stopped a few crimes from happening. Nothing major of course, a few brawls and a shoplifter, but still it was more effective than the Uchiha ever was in Konoha. They were even given special training in ranged weapons from Tenten, seeing as the Hyuuga only dealt with close range combat normally and this would give them an advantage.

Sarutobi Konohamaru had taken less time than anybody expected to come to terms with Naruto's plan. He had taken residence in the Konoha embassy. When Naruto asked the lad to just stay with him in his home, the boy said that he wanted to know where his future subordinate would be living at. And that the noises from his big brothers bedroom made sleeping a bit troublesome.

His training was proceeding well. Naruto had rummaged in his library for some scrolls to let the Sarutobi copy. When Pein attacked Konoha, the Sarutobi manor was wiped away, taking away all the family treasures and styles. Hiruzen was a renowned Bo-staff fighter with his own style. Asuma was an expert with short blades, with a preference to his trench knifes. Then there was the Ape summoning contract of their family and some family Fire jutsu. Of course, there was no way to duplicate the original styles of his uncle and grandfather or the families own Fire techniques, but Naruto could give him new ones. The Ape summoning contract was no problem, because of the blonde's Animal Path abilities, and Enma was glad to see that even though with unconventional methods, he could remain by his dear friend's family's side.

The Gāng couple was the proud owner of a beautiful forge. When the couple started their store in Konoha, they had to be considerate with the amount of space there was available and the neighbors when working. Naruto gave them directions to the two head contractors Inari and his grandfather Tazuna, were allowed to pick a spot wherever they want and design it however they liked. Now they had the dream of every blacksmith in the world; plenty of space to work and display, perfect sound isolation so they can work whenever they want and a simple request form for when they needed supplies to complete the order that Naruto made. And that was the best part. He wanted to supply an army with weapons but would only allow the very best in quality. Blacksmith paradise indeed.

The embassies were occupied by their respective nations. While Suna had sent a permanent dignitary to become the ambassador of Suna, the other Nations had decided that they would keep rotating it. In Kumo's case it was Samui one third of the year, her brother Atsui the second third and Darui or Karui for the third part. Naruto didn't know the people that Iwa and Kiri had sent. They met and they were polite; he could try and loosen them up later.

Tazuna's family was doing great as well. The family had designed a larger than average house for themselves near the outskirts of the city, as close to the harbor as possible. The two men were still busy with plans and ideas, there were still some construction sites in the village. Tsunami had met a nice man with which she seemed to be getting along with. Naruto had already warned the man for any transgressions, but the lady herself had already mentioned to her suitor that she wanted to take it slow.

Naruto stopped recalling everything that had transpired over the last few months and downed his last bowl. He had something big to do in a few minutes and he needed all the energy he could get. If this went wrong in any way, it would kill not only him but his wives as well. So Naruto paid for his meal, waved goodbye to the larger Ichiraku family and made his way to the other side of the island. He needed to be as far away from the village as possible.

X

Once the blond Jinchuuriki made his way to a small clearing, he saw how his women were all waiting for him. A feeling of pride welled up in him when he saw the pregnant state of them. He had been a busy man indeed during his honey moon; all three of them were expecting to deliver in approximately seven weeks' time. So now Naruto had to finalize his revival of the Senju clan and ask an important question. Konohamaru was present as well, just to keep an eye on his big sisters; they could be quite reckless despite their delicate condition.

They all took a seiza position on the ground; Naruto sat in front of Anko, Hinata and Tsunade, with Konohamaru behind them. The man went into his Tailed-Beast mode and started making hand-seals faster than they could follow. With one burst of chakra he bit his thumb and slammed his now bloody hand on the ground.

"**Outer Path: Summoning Technique: Gates of the Afterlife!**"

Nothing seemed to happen at first, but nobody would ever place a bet against Naruto and soon enough the ground started shaking. From the ground a mere ten feet in front of them one gigantic door made purely out of skulls and bones raised up from the ground. Everybody watched in silence as the thirty foot tall fifteen foot wide door remained still. Most of them were scared shitless when a tremor could be felt and one big black dog stuck his head around the corner. It could have been a wolf and they had no idea how it hid BEHIND the gateway. Just his head was half of the door. But then came another head and another one.

Naruto could hear the people behind him whimper in fear. He himself probably would to, but for some reason he couldn't at that moment. He felt safe even when looking at the Gamabunta sized triple headed wolf…dog…canine.

"**Mortal, what purpose have you for summoning the most sacred of gates and it's keeper**."

"I request an audience with Shinigami-sama. I would like to ask a favor." Naruto didn't miss a beat. Show no fear. He didn't know why but those three words kept ringing in his head.

The giant black guardian of the gate let out a deafening howl with all three of his heads. Naruto was positive that the Inuzuka clan in Konoha could most likely hear it. The howling stopped and their breaths hitched when in front of their eyes the gate opened revealing nothing but darkness. The doorway fully opened, but still they could only see the endless black. Without warning a figure started to appear in front of them; a figure that Naruto found vaguely familiar.

A being clad in a pure white kimono and pure white hair but covered with a black oni-mask showed itself. It looked at his minion and then at the gathered group.

"**Cerberus stated that you request an audience mortal. Why?**" It was eerie how the male sounding voice came from everywhere at once and the God of Death just kept hovering without really moving.

"I would like to talk to several people whose souls are trapped either within you or in the afterlife already."

"**Ohhh and what do I get in return for granting you this request**?"

"I am aware that normally you take the life of the one you deal with, but since this is a mere meeting and does not require your direct influence in the world of the living, I was hoping I could offer you a tainted soul in return."

"**And where is this soul then?**"

"I do not have it now, but depending on the granting of this request it may arrive sooner."

"**Hand me two souls and you may request to speak to the people you seek.**" Naruto could think of two more people to sacrifice, so that wouldn't be a problem, at least not for him.

"Very well. I request the presence of Senju Hashirama, Senju Tobirama, Sarutobi Hiruzen, Namikaze Minato, Uzumaki Mito and Uzumaki Kushina."

The God clapped his hands seven times and with each clap a person appeared. With the last clap all the people now standing in the gate opened their eyes and looked at their surroundings. The newly summoned spirits noticed each other and were surprised to see each other. The Yondaime Hokage looked at his predecessors, of whom the first two he hadn't met and the third he had never seen in his mid thirties. Then at his wife who seemed to be solely focused on something in front of them and when he looked himself he felt the first tears fall from his eyes.

"**This mortal has gained the permission to converse with you. You will not have long, so make your time count mortals, you will not receive this privilege again.**" The God of Death faded away and the great hound just lay down, almost as if sleeping.

The group couldn't resist the urge to use a few of their precious minutes to see how their relatives were doing. All of the deceased spirits knew Tsunade so most of the time was spent on her. Naruto took a few minutes to see his parents and his 'Ji-chan'. Anko and Hinata just met their father-in-law and mother-in-law and bowed when introducing themselves to the founding members of the village they were born and raised in. Konohamaru was crying as he talked to his grandfather.

After ten minutes of teary conversation, Naruto needed to get down to business. He didn't want to, he wanted more time to talk to his father and mother and give Tsunade and Konohamaru more time with their grandparents and great uncle. The blond Uzukage forced his group to once more take a formal seiza and composed himself so he could continue. The souls picked up on the different mood and waited to hear why they were here.

Naruto took the next fifteen minutes to explain all that had happened over the past six years; starting from the time Orochimaru invaded, working up to Sasuke defecting, his betrayal, Uchiha Madara's plan, the Akatsuki and the war and finally the current situation of the village. The two most visibly affected by this were Hashirama Senju, who had always hoped that his friend and rival Madara would one day see the light and Sarutobi Hiruzen when he heard what had happened after his death.

"Now that you know everything and have been informed of the current corruption of the village you have sacrificed your life for to protect and shape, I request your permission to use force to reshape it to the way it was and was supposed to be." He then explained what he was planning to do.

"I see that you have prepared this thoroughly young one, but what of your plans if we do not give you the permission you seek?" Tobirama asked.

"I will still proceed, but will feel more guilty about it. I love the village of Konoha even though I have been mistreated by everyone but Sarutobi Hiruzen and the owners of a small restaurant. True, over the years people started to act kindly to me, until I brought back the last Uchiha and everybody shunned me once more after he stole my dream and the girl I had loved a lifetime. But despite that, I still have love for the village that took in my mother, raised my father and gave me my only family; my 'Ji-chan'. I do not wish to destroy the village, I wish to take over without casualties and reform the current corruption that allowed a traitor and an S-ranked criminal to become its leader."

The Hokage's processed the words and two of them consulted with their wives. Hashirama was the one that stepped forward this time and looked straight into the blonde's eyes.

"I hereby give you permission to restore my dream, to weed out the corrupt and tainted." The others nodded and gave their blessing as well.

"Thank you, Shodaime-sama. If I may, I wish to make one more request of you." The man turned a question gaze at the lad and told him to proceed.

"None of your descendants have ever inherited your bloodline limit. It is still the most sought after power in the world. Despite that, I wish to pass it onto the Senju clan heir, to prove his heritage."

"How do you plan to do that?"

"Careful research has let me to findings that I can use. Special seals and techniques can let me merge your chakra, instead of your DNA, with a new born child since their chakra network is not yet developed and working. Similar to how a newborn child was able to house the Kyuubi no Youko. All I would need from you is to force your chakra into this scroll, which is filled with seals to be able to take in your spiritual energy signature and your physical energy blue print. When my children are born and the data is merged with them, it will not cause any alterations in the child's physique or mind, but will grant them your abilities."

"How can you be sure of that? I doubt my granddaughter would like it if you made a clone out of me."

"I have stolen the research of a mad scientist that tried to discover a way to steal bloodlines, compared it with studies that have been made in the past and when I was 100% certain it would work, I asked for two volunteers; one with a bloodline limit and one without. I succeeded in the experiment, but since the non bloodline carrier's chakra system was too developed, the newly gained abilities were present but not to full capacity of its original wielder."

Sarutobi had been standing quietly, listening to the former loudmouthed knucklehead talk. He simply couldn't believe the level of talk that he was hearing from the young lad. Before, the boy didn't want to read even if it was a jutsu scroll, but now he was reading about bloodline-limit transfer research and a higher level of Fuinjutsu that he himself knew of. What on earth happened after he had died to cause all of this?

"Very well. Just pour chakra into this scroll?" And the founding father of Konoha did just as he was requested. He was dead now so it wasn't like he needed it. He was already thankful that his granddaughter, who should be nearing the end of her life, had been given a second chance to start a family. And if he could contribute to it with just a little usage of his chakra, then he would do it gladly.

No sooner had Hashirama given the scroll back to Naruto, did the Death God appear. They all wanted more time. But life was rarely fair, so they said their goodbyes as quickly as possible. Konohamaru couldn't stop the tears when he heard his grandfather say that he should have a happy life and take his time to reach his goals; to enjoy life as much as he can. Tsunade felt a few tears herself when she saw her mentor, her uncle and grandparents just smile at her. And Kushina and Minato, who just simply looked proud at Naruto, for all that he has accomplished in this world. They waved at him and told him to take his time, that they would patiently wait for him to spend time together.

When they were all gone, Shinigami just told Naruto to summon him once more to complete his end of the deal. With that, Cerberus walked back behind the closing door; disappearing behind something that shouldn't be able to cover him and the skeleton-invested Gate sunk back into the ground.

Naruto turned towards his wives and his student and smiled. He had the last piece of the puzzle. The only thing left to do was finish Konohamaru's training to complete his mission. He was close now.

X

It had been four years since the meeting with the previous Hokages. Sarutobi Konohamaru stood next to Hyuuga Neji, Hyuuga Tenten, Namikaze Hinata and his big brother Naruto. They were all wearing their battle garbs. Konohamaru was wearing a dark brown shirt over a mesh top, black cargo pants and his Leaf forehead protector on his head. He had shin and lower arm guards that matched the breast plate especially made for him. The set had special seals from Naruto himself; the armor was a present that could maybe become a family heirloom.

Neji had a white hakama with a lavender breastplate that only covered where his heart was. Tenten wore no armor, she simply had three large scrolls on her back. The couple had the Leaf headband on their right bicep and the Shin-Uzushio headband on their left bicep. Hinata was mostly out of the field nowadays, preferring to tend to her two children instead of going out to do missions. But for this occasion, she pulled out her old clothes, thought they needed to be resized a bit, it had been a while since she wore them. Her dark blue skintight pants with lilac jacket over her mesh shirt made it look like the past six years never happened. Her Shin-Uzushio headband hanging proudly around her neck.

Naruto was not wearing any armor either. He said he didn't need it and didn't like it. He wore his black kimono with the golden embroidery of 'Strength' and 'Wisdom' on his sleeves, he had added an old saying from Sandaime Hokage in gold to his back. 'There is Power in Knowledge'. Naruto would never have the chance to tell the old man how right he was. With the triangular hat symbolizing his status as a Kage with the mark of Shin-Uzushio on both his hat and his black and white Kage robes.

The group of five looked at each other; this was their last mission together. Neji, Tenten, Hinata and Konohamaru all did a Henge, giving them alternate appearances, while Naruto summoned 300 shadow clones and made the clones Henge as well. If Naruto's face could be seen through the veil of his hat, he would have been the only one recognizable.

"Let's go!" With that order, the army of Shin-Uzushio crossed the border into the Land of Fire.

X

25 year old Uchiha Sasuke was not happy. He was not happy at all. It would be better to say that he was seething, furious, pissed beyond measure. The past four years have been one disappointment after another. He was Hokage now, but he had several merchants leave his city, multiple shinobi deserting to a new village, he had lost alliances with all of the Great Nations, the smaller nations and some steady suppliers of missions. And all of it went to the new village that appeared four years ago. If it wasn't for the steady supply of work from the Fire's Feudal Lord he would have been bankrupt.

He didn't need the military alliances really; Konoha had the strongest military force in the world. And with him as leader, with his fully evolved Mangekyou Sharingan, only a fool would attack his city. He had a self-sustaining village, so he was not dependent of other places to feed his people. But the people were getting restless because of the lack of luxury they were used to.

His biggest problem though, even after being married for four and a half years with his former team mate and the woman he stole from the 'dope', he still had not sired a child. He had her checked to see if she wasn't barren; an act that had her screaming and flailing for a good few weeks. It couldn't be him that had faulty equipment, he was an Uchiha, they were made for expanding their clan and bloodline; they were perfect. So he would just have to keep on trying. If only he wasn't honor-bound to have only one woman, but he would not discard his families traditions; he still had time to make children, he was still young. Sasuke was snapped out of his musing when a Chuunin stormed into his office.

"Hokage-sama, we have an incoming army led by the Uzukage! They are 300 men strong and will arrive within half a day! What are your orders?" The Uchiha smirked, the perfect way to vent some frustration.

"Start evacuating the civilians, alert every shinobi to man the walls and gather around the front gates. Did they have any siege weapons?" The Chuunin shook his head. "Then the only way for them to effectively enter the city is the front gates, since the walls have auto chakra seals on them. Also, send a message to Suna that we might need back up, nobody has faced the new village's shinobi before." The Chuunin bowed and left to relay the orders. Sasuke smirked, what fools are they to attack an Uchiha.

X

Nara Shikaku, Aburame Shibi, Inuzuka Tsume, Yamanaka Inoichi and Akimichi Chouza all knew that this day would come. They had all given orders to their respective clan members that as soon as the order was given they were to retreat to their clan base. Some of the younger members were not fond of this decision, but followed the order of their clan leaders.

Hyuuga Hiashi however, ordered his clan to not move out at all. He had another reason for anticipating this day. This day would lift the curse of the Hyuuga clan and fulfill his lifelong ambition. He had to get the council of elders in the same room, but that was easy, those old fools would always take the most inappropriate time to have a meeting about the future of the clan. Even if the very village they lived in was under attack. They had done so with the Sound/Sand invasion and the Pein invasion; why would this be any different? All he had to do now was to wait for three of the 'invaders' to come and stage the coup.

X

When the army arrived all of the shinobi forces were gathered and standing in defensive positions around the main gate. The troops witnessed how the people manning the wall got pulled over the edge and screamed in pain without any sighting of a rope or weapon being used. It was safe to say that ever ninja was on high alert. Most of them were fresh, since the Fourth War had claimed many lives. It was thankful that many of the veterans were still alive; the clan leaders and several of the ANBU, if not for the presence of the latter under command of Morino Ibiki many might have fled in fear.

As soon as the last sentry on the wall vanished, the doors to Konoha were blown up, leaving only splinters and a large cloud of dust in its wake. Out of the dust walked a Kage with a few dozen of his men. They drew the attention to a point where nobody noticed three figures slipping by under the cover of the dust cloud. Nobody attacked yet, it never happened for a leader of the army to stand in front of their army; especially in the line of sight for long ranged attacks. The dust settled, showing that where there were once 300 warriors, now only twenty remained.

One overly nervous, fresh Chuunin got trigger happy and shot a Fireball at the enemy leader. To everyone amazement, without any sign or movement, a wall of water erected just in front of the concealed man; absorbing the technique as if it was water being sucked into a sponge.

"You never were a real good leader, bastard."

As the sentence was said, Naruto removed his hat and robes, leaving him in only his kimono. All of the people gasped when they saw him; the hero of the war. But why was he attacking the village, he was a shinobi of the leaf, right? He wanted to become Hokage, right? Why the hell was he wearing Kage robes from Shin-Uzushio?

"It's you, dope. You know that only a Kage is allowed to wear those robes and if you think you can take over Konoha to take over my position, you are even more of an idiot than I thought." Sasuke smirked at his old teammate. He wanted to pour more salts into the blonde's wounds, let him feel the pain of humiliation; the Uchiha had to go through it when the dead-last of Konoha had with defeated him pure luck before bringing him back here. He clearly didn't know the expression 'What goes around, comes around.'

"How is the village doing, bastard? Got any allies? Oh, wait, I have them. Any trading partners? No, wait, got those too. Any steady suppliers outside of the Feudal Lord? Damn…I got those too." Sasuke was seething. Naruto was the Uzukage?! When the hell did that happen?

"So what, you started a little village. With the might of Konoha under my command, you and your village will be squashed like the dead-last you are."

"Under your command Konoha is mighty? Because you're an Uchiha? The Uchiha is down to one last weak member; the Uchiha are extinct, so I don't need to worry about that."

"You just wait until I get my clan restored, then we will see who's extinct."

"Not gonna happen."

"Why is that, dope?"

"Because you will die today and you don't have children."

"How do you know about that?!"

"I sterilized you." With those three words, all the color drained from the young man's face. The shinobi looked in disbelief at either their leader or the invader. Sakura was standing in the crowd and was making her way with impressive speed towards Naruto and lashed out at him with the enhanced strength Taijutsu she had learned from Tsunade before she left.

All watched in amazement as the pink haired girl seemed to simply be suspended in the air, not moving a muscle before Naruto grabbed her larger than normal forehead, slammed her into the ground, and seemed to place a seal on her. The shinobi immediately launched a volley of shuriken and kunai at the aggressor, seemingly forgetting about the pink kunoichi that lay at the man's feet. He simply turned around and once more disappeared behind a dome, of earth this time, without moving an inch, deflecting all of the incoming projectiles. Not even exploding tags attached to the weapons seemed to even dent the cover.

As soon as the last cling of metal hitting stone was heard, the dome withdrew back into the ground and displayed an unmoved Naruto, but no Sakura.

"Where did you take Sakura-sama?!" Shouted a Gennin.

"She will be used in my experiments, just like the rest of you." Naruto said with a malicious grin. He wouldn't do it of course. He just placed his whore of an ex outside the wall, constricted by a forced sleep seal; so she would neither rejoin the battle and wouldn't be in harm's way. She was sleeping nicely with the few dozen Leaf shinobi that had the misfortune of guarding the wall. But he wanted to anger them, rile them up.

The men behind Naruto all dropped their Henge, Konohamaru standing guard at the prisoners in case any woke up or if someone found them and would try to release them. Once more the Leaf shinobi were shocked, they weren't fighting an army of 200; they were fighting one man with clones. They were not as afraid now as they were earlier. Hero or not, he was outnumbered 400 to 1.

Naruto whistled once and suddenly the troopers noticed people retreating. Sasuke looked up bewildered, wondering where the hell his soldiers were going off to while they were under attack. The Uchiha looked back at Naruto and saw him smirking. The blond bastard had people on the inside. He would deal with them after finished the dead-last.

The 'dead-last' made one hand-seal, the one he was famous for and shouted the name of his technique. Once more 200 clones faced the Konoha forces. Every clone took out a three pronged kunai with a yellow label on the hilt, only a few of the oldest shinobi recognized it. Once all of them had the blade out, they threw it in every direction, much to the fear of those who recognized it; they prayed they were mistaken, otherwise…this would be a massacre.

The real Naruto took one step forward, lifted his hand towards all off his foes and smiled at them warmly, before his eyes turned cold.

"**Shinra Tensei!**" The people gasped in horror when they heard the name of the attack that once made a giant crater of the village and closed their eyes in fear when they all felt themselves being thrown back. The attack that was yelled next was only known by the older generation and knew it as soon as they heard it; they were royally screwed.

"**Hiraishin!**"

X

Sasuke could merely watch as he saw his men being taken out by the dozen; not two at a time, not five at a time…no, ten-twelve every few seconds. He tried to keep up with the movement that the blond used to be everywhere and nowhere at once. He had tried to take out a clone or two, but even with his fully evolved Sharingan, he wasn't fast enough. He had to listen to the screams of his men falling like bushes in pain and see the looks of fear on their faces before they went still. Was this really the dope? This couldn't be right, only an Uchiha was supposed to have this much power.

The one-sided battle lasted a mere 30 minutes. In that short amount of time, Konoha was defeated, by one man. It was humiliating. The only ones still standing were the Rokudaime Hokage and the Shodaime Uzukage. Truth be told, Sasuke was scared, just a little bit, but still scared. And when he blinked once, just to moister his eyes, Naruto was behind him and all went black.

X

Sasuke woke up feeling a slight throbbing in his head. It took but a few seconds to remember what had happened, but when he did, he shot up, looking around him to confirm the situation. He couldn't quite place where he was. He was out on the street witnessing his men getting decimated, but this wasn't any street. The place seemed familiar, but it took him a minute to realize he was in the arena where he fought with Gaara more than a decade ago. He was wondering why he was here or where Naruto was, but that was answered when Naruto started talking.

"I see you have woken up, bastard." The blond said from in front him. He stood up from the chair he woke up in and walked towards the dope. He looked around once, to see that the civilians were gathered in the stands, seemingly trapped by a barrier. In his private box overlooking the field, the clan heads and the deserters Neji, Tenten, Hinata and Konohamaru were standing looking at him like a hawk watches his prey.

"Why are there traitors in my box?" Naruto just huffed at the man. The Uchiha saw how his citizens and his captured troops were being kept hostage and looking at him for help but the only thing he deemed worthy to mention was that somebody was sitting in his spot.

"They are there to look over us and keep an eye on the hostages. I wanted to make you an offer. Since you took my dream, I took yours; now that we are even, I wanted to give you a chance to save your people in a one on one battle." Naruto looked dead serious at his former friend.

"Who cares about them, I will kill you for what you did to me!" Sasuke shouted as he charged forward at Naruto.

"I see." Sasuke smirked as he watched how Naruto didn't move when he made the first sign of hostility. _'A dope until the end; just stand there while I show you the power of an Uchiha.' _Naruto heard his foe yell out the name of **Amaterasu**, but it wouldn't matter. Not against him anyway. A large black flaming dragon sprung forth from Sasuke's eye and flew towards Naruto.

The crowd of shinobi and civilians alike had been silent from the moment that they heard their precious Hokage saying that he didn't care about them, while they were trapped by the enemy no less. They didn't know anymore who to root for. The invader hadn't harmed them in any way yet; all the shinobi that faced him were just knocked out with light but well placed Taijutsu and or techniques. Yet their protector, their hero, their leader condemned them, instead taking 'revenge' for something that only the shinobi seemed to know; the civilian council members listened in horror as one of the shinobi told them that Naruto had practically ended the Uchiha bloodline.

Hinata and her group watched in silence as the black flame of the Sharingan sped towards the blond. The leaders of each respective clan were at the edge of their seat, fearing that their leader was in trouble. But just mere inches away from Naruto the black fire disappeared into the blonde's hand using his Preta Path. Gasps could be heard all over when the most feared fire attack was useless against an enemy. The inhaling of air was soon replaced by the screaming Uchiha that demanded to know what he did to his 'ultimate attack'.

"You'll have to do better than that Sasuke. You're not the only one with a Doujutsu and mine is stronger. Try something else." Naruto looked disappointed, which only made Sasuke even more furious.

The raven haired man shot towards his blond foe again, only this time took out his hand and charged it with a **Chidori**. His hand shot out at Naruto's chest, aiming to end all of this in one move, but like before, a mere inch away from his heart, Naruto grabbed the lighting charged wrist and held it firmly, knowing full well that the last time this happened to Sasuke it was Itachi who did it. Sasuke kicked but needed to bend his body back when Naruto simply twisted his arm, his jutsu releasing and his retaliation stopping.

Naruto forced the arm behind his former teammates back and stood behind him, whispering in his ear.

"The Uchiha are extinct. You are weak. You have always been weak. I ended your clan and I will end you. You can't beat me weakling." Naruto pushed the boy away and said in a loud enough force.

"If you surrender, I may spare your people." He knew the answer already, but he needed the people to hear this.

"Never! I will kill you!" And the dumb man charged again. He never realized that even if he won, he would have a major rebellion on his hands.

Sasuke went for Taijutsu this time and unleashed a flurry of punches and kicks. Naruto dodged every single attack as if he was moving in slow-motion, he made it seem like it didn't require any effort. Naruto suddenly launched his arm out and grabbed Sasuke by his forehead, he could hear a girl screaming in the crows, Sakura most likely, and Sasuke went limb in his hand. The crowd looked on in fear, what was going to happen to them now?

X

The clan leaders came on down and stood around Naruto, who had Sasuke on the ground struggling against his restraints. He looked up in hate as he looked at HIS men and HIS forces that betrayed them. He cursed at them to release them, if they didn't that the council would do it later, so why waste time? Naruto just sighed; the so called prodigy really didn't seem to understand the situation.

"Sasuke, the enemy invasion on 'your' village has been successful. At this moment, I am in charge of this village and your council has no say what so ever. I make the rules now." Sasuke knew that he should be afraid now, especially when he saw his two biggest supporters, the elders Homura and Koharu being brought over bound as well.

Naruto went into a seiza and motioned for the people behind him to do the same. The blond went into his Tailed Beast Mode and started doing hand-signs he would never do again after this. At the last sign, everybody present could feel the chakra pulse and listened in slight trepidation when they heard the name of the technique.

"**Outer Path: Summoning Technique: Gates of the Afterlife!**"

The now familiar huge gate of bones rose up from the ground. The people behind Naruto intended to back away, but with a warning of Naruto they stayed seated. Inuzuka Tsume gasped when she saw the biggest hound she had ever seen and when the great beast revealed the last of its heads she bowed in respect to the Boss of the Dog summons; Cerberus.

"**You return mortal. Are you ready to fulfill your end of the deal?**" The blond merely nodded.

Everybody held their ears to block the howl of the black canine and looked enraptured when the gates started to open, only to reveal nothingness. A form soon appeared that no other had seen before, but they could guess who it was.

"**Mortal, have you prepared the stipend?**" Homura, Koharu and Sasuke felt their eyes widen in fear when Naruto motioned to them.

"As a sign of gratitude I have decided to give you one extra soul Shinigami-sama." The apparition looked at his payment, before taking out his dagger. With one hand he grabbed onto Sasuke's head, clutched and started pulling back. A bluish form started to come out of the young man until it revealed Sasuke in spirit form; his very soul. When all that remained between the body and the spirit was a small sliver, the God of Death merely cut of the link between the two and ate the soul under the eye of all. He repeated this process twice, with the two former advisors of three Hokage's and the three bodies went limp.

"**The deal is fulfilled.**" The door closed and Cerberus walked back behind the door as the gateway started to sink back into the earth, leaving not a trace behind of his presence.

Naruto stood, with the leaders of Konoha's clans doing the same, a bit wary of the blond, and listened to their temporary leader as he spoke.

"I call a meeting of the current council members of Konoha."

X

Nara Shikaku sat in his seat at the long table that was used for every meeting. He had brought his son Shikamaru with him, as he was going to be here in his stead in the near future and needed more experience in the dealings of politics. He looked to his left and saw that the other clans had done the same. Yamanaka Inoichi was here with his daughter Ino, who was frightened to be here, Abarame Shibi with his stoic as ever son Shino, Akimichi Chouza with his even now chips eating son Chouji, Inuzuka Tsume with her son kiba and more surprisingly, Hyuuga Neji with Hiashi behind him. The last one got the most looks as for one, Hanabi was supposed to be clan heir, two, Neji was a deserter, and three, Neji was sitting at the table and Hiashi was standing behind him.

On the other side of the room sat five of the civilian members; seeing as the other two Shinobi in name but civilians at heart council members were now gone. Ogane Shoji was the head of the catering sector, Hanabusa Ichiru was the representative of the upper class of the people, Midori Shiori was the representative of the middle class, Mogami Kaoru for the lower class and Genkin Yoku for the merchants of the village.

All heads snapped towards the door as it opened and revealed Naruto in his Uzukage robes, with Hinata in a lavender kimono behind him. The civilian side was surprised to see the grandson of the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Konohamaru walk in behind them.

"Welcome. As you know, the Village Hidden in the Leaves is now under my command. Therefore it is within my rights to change whatever I want. First things first. Hyuuga Neji, do you have anything to report." All heads turned towards the deserted Hyuuga as he stood up.

"Yes, Uzumaki-sama, I have. I have taken over the Hyuuga Main House. Sadly, I was unable to prevent the deaths of three of the five Elders, who resisted until the end. The other two, including Hyuuga Hiashi have surrendered after losing the duel I had with Hiashi-san. They have accepted the new rule and their banishment." The young man bowed and took a seat. The civilians really wanted to know how the hell this happened without anyone noticing.

"Very well. Then next up is the new formation of the council. Currently there are as much council members for the civilians as for the shinobi. No longer. There will be only two from now on; one representing the merchants and one the citizens." The five, soon to be two members that it related too stood up and screamed bloody murder; they all had a nice income thanks to their influential position. It wasn't until Naruto send out a wave of killing intent, which quieted them down.

"I wasn't asking for your opinion. This village has always been a shinobi village. Decisions regarding the village should therefore be mainly decided by them and not the normal populace. The people are free to leave if they do not agree with a policy, unlike the ninja who will be branded and executed if they disagree." The shinobi side nodded.

"Since you have no leader at this moment and I have plenty to do with both my family and my village, I hereby instate Sarutobi Konohamaru as Nanadaime Hokage. I have trained him extensively over the past few years and have groomed him for this position. He is as wise for his age as his late grandfather was and will be an excellent leader." The room was a bit skeptical because of the boys age; his lineage was without doubt good though, looking back at all the impressive shinobi they produced.

"Now that all that is out of the way. I hereby propose an alliance between Shin-Uzushio and Konoha."

X

When Naruto returned home with Hinata, his father-in-law Hiashi, sister-in-law Hanabi and the last of the original 'Branch' members of the Hyuuga; the village cheered as their leader was home safe and sound. The new arrivals looked around in amazement and even more so when they saw their clan members so active in society, free from oppression. The Hyuuga clan members went to their compound while Hiashi and Hanabi went to their next door neighbors; they wanted to see their nephews/grandchildren of course.

Hanabi was reluctant to get the Safeguard seal on her, fearing it was like the one her old home branded the servants with, but when Hinata showed the back of her neck, the spot where she had her own seal, Hanabi stopped struggling. Hiashi took it without difficulty as he knew it wasn't the same he was forced to use. Naruto showed him how to do it for future descendants of their clan.

Never let it be said that the Hyuugas don't show emotions. Hiashi had the biggest smile on his face when he met his four year old granddaughter Yuuka and Hanabi literally squealed when handed her one year old nephew Kaname.

Anko and Tsunade sat around Naruto as he played with his three other children, two of them from Tsunade and one from Anko, who had one more on the way, and looked at him expectantly; they wanted to know what happened back in their home village. After telling them all that had happened, he had one last thing to say in regards of Konoha.

"Don't worry, it's over."


End file.
